


Let's make things interesting

by Nico4undead



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Andrew Minyard Has Feelings, Andrew Minyard Takes Care of Neil Josten, Andrew Minyard is a Little Shit, Andrew Minyard is an Asshole, BAMF Andrew Minyard, Bisexual Disaster Kevin Day, Bisexual Kevin Day, Established Relationship, Everyone Is Gay, Kevin Day Needs A Hug, M/M, Minyard-Josten Rivalry, Neil Josten Is an Idiot, Neil Josten is a Little Shit, Neil Josten is a Mess, Neil Josten is a Tease, Oblivious Neil Josten, POV Andrew Minyard, POV Neil Josten, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Andrew Minyard, Sassy Neil Josten, Secret Relationship, Soft Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:47:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 31,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28603176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nico4undead/pseuds/Nico4undead
Summary: This is probably going to be really long. Basically, Andreil, after they both join a pro Exy team. Neil suggests they make things a little more interesting and don't necessarily tell anyone about their relationship, just act as they usually would. Cue the Minyard/Josten rivalry and basically just Andrew and Neil being little shits and thoroughly enjoying making everyone think they can't stand each other.
Relationships: Allison Reynolds/Renee Walker (All For The Game), Jeremy Knox/Jean Moreau, Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Matt Boyd/Danielle "Dan" Wilds, Neil Josten & Andrew Minyard, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Nicky Hemmick/Erik Klose
Comments: 111
Kudos: 340





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I try to keep their relationship and personalities as canon as possible, so there won't be much PDA and stuff, and they are still traumatized so yeah... Still sticking to strict consent rules from Andrew because he is love and I do not want to portray him in any other way than he is <3  
> I hope to update every few days or so.

Andrew woke up to a weight on the bed and jerked up. It had been months since he and Neil had shared a bed due to Andrew finishing university a year earlier than Neil.

He had slowly gotten used to waking up with another person next to him, but after two semesters of only weekends spent together in Columbia, with Neil going back to Palmetto every Sunday, his heart sped up involuntarily as he felt his weight on the bed.

His wild movement woke Neil up abruptly and he sat up next to Andrew, watching him closely as Andrew put on an indifferent face.

“Should I go?” Neil asked, a bit of concern in his voice, knowing the adjustment period to them living together again would be a bit hard on Andrew.

“Shut up,” Andrew said dismissively and Neil shook his head slightly in understanding, before laying back down.

Andrew threw off the covers and strode to the other side of the room, where he kept his armbands on a shelf, putting them on and opening the door so that Sir and King could walk in as they pleased. 

He stood by the door a few minutes, taking everything in, before making his way back towards the bed, nudging Neil a bit more roughly than he usually would.

“Has Neil Josten finally given up on getting up at dawn to go running?” 

Neil flipped Andrew off, not wanting to get up yet after last night’s strenuous activities. 

Andrew rolled his eyes and made his way downstairs to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. He woke Sir up with his footsteps as he walked through the hallway, hissing back at it when Sir purred appreciatively by his feet, following him to the kitchen. 

Andrew begrudgingly opened a can of cat food for him, making King wake up at the smell, and run towards him with a meow. 

“I sometimes wonder why I haven’t thrown you out with the trash yet,” Andrew deadpanned as he bent down to pet King, who growled happily, chewing on the disgusting cat food. 

Sir finished his own portion and rubbed himself against Andrew’s ankle lovingly, trying to coax more food out of him, but unluckily for the cat, it didn’t work on him like it did on Neil.

“Stop that right now or you will substitute for a new winter hat,” Andrew said, as he picked Sir up and started making the coffee with Sir purring sleepily in his arms.

Andrew heard a grumble from upstairs and the heavy footsteps of a recently awakened 5’3 idiot. He acknowledged Neil's presence with a small nod of his head and poured a cup of coffee for each of them, turning around with his own to see Neil cuddling King in his arms on the ground.

Neil looked up at Andrew with bleary eyes and his lips slightly parted, but he smiled as his gaze fell to the cat held in Andrew’s arm.

“321%,” Andrew said in response to his smile.

"Only 1% more today?”

"Going on 323%” 

Neil put his arms up in mock surrender and King meowed in his lap, annoyed at the sudden loss of scratches.

Neil diverted his attention back to the needy beast and Andrew set Sir down to go sip his coffee at the table in peace.

He unlocked his phone and deleted his Instagram and Twitter notifications. As a part of their newly signed contracts on a pro team, he and Neil were required to join the social media platforms. And though he hadn't posted anything except a picture of their starting lineup for the start of the season, likes and followers were flooding in by thousands. It was annoying enough as it was, without Nicky’s incessant DM’s, sending him stupid videos and memes. Turned out his cousin could be annoying all the way from Germany. He immediately turned off notifications for both of the apps, remembering the good old days, when he had his simple flip phone.  
‘Your parents are dead, you are not fine, and nothing is going to be okay,’ Andrew had once told Neil. He realized only now that only one of those statements had been correct. His father had been alive, he was not fine, but everything was okay. Or as okay as it could ever be for them.  
He shook the thought from his head as Neil walked into the kitchen, balancing two cats, a coffee mug, and a bowl of whole-wheat cereal in his arms.  
“You are ridiculous,” Andrew said, looking up at him as the cats squirmed to get away.  
"Good morning to you too," Neil said, cynical.  
Andrew shrugged, scrolling through the rest of his notifications, consisting mostly of angry texts from Kevin, demanding why they did not inform him beforehand that coach Diana Ramos had reached out to recruit them to the Columbia Spartans.

Andrew figured he wouldn’t bother telling anyone until everything was sorted out and all the paperwork was finalized. He knew firsthand how quickly things could take a turn if something happened, and between their rocky starts, him already refusing her offer once, Neil’s attitude problem, and Andrew’s unpleasant mood due to his cigarette withdrawal, they didn’t want to announce anything beforehand, in case false news spread to nosy reporters.

He ignored the furious texts and missed phone calls, deciding he would deal with Kevin later.

“Anything in mind for our days off before we meet the team for our first practice?” Neil asked as he finished his breakfast. Andrew tilted his head in consideration.

“Avoid Day, for sure,” he said, before opening Twitter to inspect all of his notifications. Allison had tweeted a public congratulations for getting handpicked to join the Columbia pro Exy team, tagging both him and Neil with a picture of his sophomore year lineup. 

He typed a short unenthusiastic reply before putting his phone away and focusing on Neil, who was still waiting for a proper answer to his question.

“We could redecorate, now that the house is officially ours and not Nicky’s,” Andrew said, gesturing to the white walls.

Neil looked a bit surprised by the proposition but beamed nonetheless. “Sounds good,” he said cautiously, waiting for Andrew to nod in agreement. 

“What would you want to do with the spare rooms?” Neil asked, snatching Sir up again, as he hopped off of his lap. 

Andrew shrugged apathetically. 

Neil waited a bit before continuing: “I was thinking, we could leave Nicky’s old bedroom as a spare for guests, but we could remodel Aaron’s old room into a gym…” he said, eying Andrew’s face.

Andrew just looked at him for a minute, before getting up with his empty coffee mug.

“Junkie,” he said flatly before turning to go to the kitchen for a second cup. Neil smiled and put the cats down to follow Andrew.

“You didn’t answer,” Neil said, leaning against the counter, watching as Andrew put an ungodly amount of sugar into the coffee.

“You didn’t ask me a question,” Andrew said.

Neil sighed, “Can we remodel Aaron’s old bedroom into a gym?”

“Yes,” Andrew said, not looking up from his drink.

Neil smiled at the easy win, “Do you think Aaron would mind?” he asked slowly.

“Yes, all the more reason to do so.”

Neil laughed a bit at that and reached for the coffee pot to pour himself a second cup of coffee as well. When he turned around to go back to the table Andrew was standing in front of him. Neil put his cup back down on the counter.

“Good morning again,” Neil said breezily.

“I hate you,” Andrew said back, stepping into his space. “Yes or no?”

Neil smiled, grabbing the edge of the counter so his hands wouldn’t wander. “You should know by now that it’s always a yes,” Neil said.

Andrew narrowed his eyes. "Except when it's a no,” Andrew said forcefully. Neil shook his head in reassurement.

“But it’s a yes,” he said again, and this time, without argument, Andrew leaned in and kissed him fiercely.

***

After a quick shower, they headed to a large hardware/furniture store. The car ride was fairly quiet, as neither of them particularly enjoyed smalltalk, but as soon as they parked, Neil was out of the car and looking towards the store curiously. Andrew raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve never been to a store like this before,” he shrugged. Andrew nodded in understanding. While on the run, furniture and decor probably weren’t primary concerns. 

He led Neil through the front door and pulled him along as he stared wide-eyed at the selection.

“How many types of lights can a person pick from?” he asked incredulously as they turned into the section filled with everything from chandeliers to desk lamps.

“Beats me,” Andrew said, as they made their way through an aisle. Neil, having no sense of style or interest in the matter, let Andrew pick out all the lights. They got to the end of the section when a group of sixteen-year-olds walked up to Neil, giggling and nudging each other. Neil, oblivious, was looking at models of bedside lamps, trying to decide which one Andrew would probably choose.

Andrew kept an eye on him, as a girl, about three inches taller than Neil himself, finally found the courage to talk to him. He knew Neil’s fight or flight instinct when cornered by unfamiliar faces.

She cleared her throat. “I- uh, hello, are you Neil Josten?” she asked, sending her friends an awkward smile before turning back to Neil, who spun around quickly, relaxing a bit, when he locked eyes with Andrew, who just looked back at him. It was a clear signal, ‘You are safe’. 

“Um, yeah, hi,” he said, not smiling. Andrew clenched his jaw a bit in an effort not to cringe, or smile at Neil’s horrible social skills, though he probably would have walked away by now if it were him.

“Hi, yeah, we are like... huge fans of the Foxes, and we were wondering if maybe you would… take a picture with us or something?” the girl said and her friends nodded and smiled nervously behind her. 

Neil’s eyes darted from Andrew to the group a few times. 

“I don’t really like to take pictures,” Neil deadpanned. The group looked a bit taken aback by his less than warm response, but the girl perked up again. “We won’t put it on Instagram or anything if you don’t want us to, it’s just so amazing to see you in real life, and I mean, it will only take a second…” the girl pressed, seemingly oblivious to the way Neil’s eyes started darting around for an escape, ingrained into his brain from years on the run. Avoid unnecessary looks.

“I… uh…”

“Is there a problem here?” Andrew said cooly, looking up at the girl, who visibly shrunk as he looked at her questioningly.

“No problem,” she squeaked, turning back to her friends, who were gaping at Andrew in shock. “Oh wow,” she tried to continue but faltered. It was obvious that Andrew’s presence unsettled her. The thought was mildly amusing to Andrew, seeing as Neil had killed multiple people in his days on the run, had multiple fake identities, ties to two separate mafias, including a life-long debt to one and scars all over his body, but they hadn’t seemed cautious to approach. He credited that to what Allison liked to call Neil’s ‘lost puppy’ look. 

One of the guys in the group, about Matt’s height, stepped up. “It would really make our day, no one would believe us without proof…” he said, laughing nervously. Andrew considered the options for a moment, assuming that the team’s PR team probably wouldn’t be very pleased if they blew their fans off.

“Give me your phone,” Andrew said, not taking his eyes off of the group. The girl started putting her hand in her pocket for her phone but Neil understood and handed Andrew his phone before anyone else could. He opened it with his fingerprint and went to Twitter. 

“Twitter accounts?” Andrew said, not looking up from the phone, and the group stumbled over their words in excitement as they started telling Andrew their usernames.

Neil shrank back out of sight behind Andrew, looking around at the lights once more.

@neiljos10 / Met @kailaaa33 @thegramirez @lousloveforexy @david7dada @car0linelisa at IKEA today. ~

Andrew started typing before turning to Neil, “What would you say on social media if you weren’t a self-destructive idiot?”

Neil turned at him, pouting a bit before stepping up to Andrew’s side and looking down at the tweet. 

“I don’t use Twitter,” he shrugged. Andrew shot him a murderous look.

Neil looked at the phone once again, scrunching his eyebrows in concentration.

“Happy to see that Exy fans can be found anywhere?” he said questioningly.

“Junkie,” Andrew said, before typing it out and tweeting it. At that moment, the group’s phones buzzed.

They tore their eyes away from the two of them to check their phones for confirmation.

“That should be proof enough. We are done here,” Andrew said in dismissal, looking at them for another second before walking away. The group mumbled astounded thanks to Neil, before returning to their previous endeavors, getting louder and giddier the further away they were, glancing back at Neil a few times.

When the group was out of sight, Neil walked towards Andrew, who just tossed two bedside lamps into their cart. 

“They were so terrified of you, ‘Drew,” Neil said, smiling.

“Not as much as you were of them,” Andrew said back, pushing the cart forward. “Tell me, how do you manage to insult multiple political figureheads and crimelords on live television without so much as a flinch, but whenever a fan asks for a picture, who panic? Your survival instincts are questionable at best from where I stand.”

Neil considered the question, finding the proper words.

“When I’m on TV, it’s an enclosed environment. Me as they want me to be. When the day ends, I know exactly what I have said and what will stay out there. This… you never know when someone is watching, recording… they could release anything out there, with any caption, and I wouldn’t even know. That’s what scares me. On TV, I’m in control. But like this, I just don’t want people prying into my personal life.”

“A celebrity scared of paparazzi. Oh, Neil, whatever am I going to do with you?” 

Neil smiled, “I might have a few ideas.”

Andrew shot him an unimpressed look and they continued their way through the store.

Last year, Andrew had worked a low-paying job as a junior criminalist. He was frighteningly good at it but had only really taken up the position as an in-between until Neil finished college. It was also good to have some background experience in case he wanted to pursue a different career after he retired as an Exy player. He had saved up enough money for comfortable living, and Neil still had about two hundred thousand dollars from his life on the run, so they could afford to splurge on home decor now that they had a spot on the Columbia’s pro Exy team, with ridiculously large salaries.

About six hours later, they had a full cart of different boxes and a list of delivery items. Neil had successfully avoided picking anything for the apartment other than a very unnecessary beanbag chair (“A beanbag?” “I like beanbags.” “Whatever.”), he had no clue on what to get since he had never had to buy any furniture or even had the need for it in his childhood.

After they piled everything in the trunk and backseat of the car, Andrew drove them home and Neil finally had a chance to check his phone. Though he had also disabled his notifications for all social media platforms, he had about 20 texts from his friends, reading them out to Andrew.

A spam from Nicky.

“DUDE”  
“First of all, how dare you shop without me, I thought it was our thing >:(“  
“Also, you actually use your Twitter??? I thought someone managed it for U or smth.”  
“Wait, so why don’t you ever answer me asshole”  
“Ok, wait pls don’t show this to Andrew, but I know it was him that tweeted that lmao”

Neil looked over at Andrew, shrugging. "Too late," he said, before reading the rest of Nicky's texts.

“You would probably have run away”  
“Ok, that was really passive-aggressive”  
“I’m still salty you went shopping without me :((((((((((((“

Neil didn't bother replying and opened a message from Robin instead.

“Oooooooo you have to show me what you guys got for your apartment! The Foxes miss you! Say hi to Andrew for me <3”

Andrew nodded in acknowledgment as Neil typed out a quick reply before turning off his phone and dismissing the rest of his notifications. Neil put his head against the headrest and closed his eyes, looking strained.

Andrew glanced over at him and raised an eyebrow.

“I’m fine,” Neil said out of habit, cringing, and adding “really, Andrew.”

Andrew clenched his jaw.

“I don’t lie to you, I haven’t since Baltimore,” he said. It wasn’t exactly their favorite subject, but they had gotten used to talking about it from time to time.

“I know. And I’d know if you were.”

Neil smiled and closed his eyes as they drove back to their home.

***

They made a few trips from the car to the house, bringing all the stuff in. A few of their neighbors eyed them curiously on their way by. Neil spared a smile or two, but Andrew wholeheartedly ignored them as he carried way too many boxes for his small stature into the house.

On the last run out to the car, Neil spotted a tall muscly man with auburn hair walking across the street. He couldn’t really see his face, but he was wearing a simple black T-shirt and pants. 

Neil’s heart stopped beating, or maybe it was beating way too fast, he couldn’t tell. His stomach bottomed out, and for a minute, he forgot about everything. That man looked exactly like his father. It was his father. 

He had to run before Nathan noticed him. His head was spinning. He gripped to the side of the car. His car. His and Andrew’s car. Andrew.

Where was Andrew?

Nothing was making sense. He felt 18 again. He felt like he had to run.

“I told Neil to stay," Andrew had said. "Leave Nathaniel buried in Baltimore with his father." 

Andrew. He had to stay, his father was dead. That wasn’t The Butcher. It couldn’t be. He heard Stuart’s gunshot echoing in his head and he almost laughed. 

The man noticed Neil staring at him and looked around. Blue eyes. But a different face. It wasn’t his father. His father was dead.

Neil turned back to the trunk, his palms still shaking but he swallowed his fear. 

“Neil,” he heard Andrew’s voice, more of a demand than a question, bringing him fully back to reality. 

The blond man walked around the car to stand next to him.

“Look at me,” Andrew said when Neil dug through the trunk to fish out the things from the very back. Neil did.

He didn’t know what Andrew saw, but his gaze was unreadable. He flicked his eyes around them, lingering on something behind Neil, and Neil knew he understood.

“Go back inside,” Andrew said. Neil gave him the car keys and did as he was told. He stood in the silent hallway, trying to get himself to just calm down.

Andrew entered the house and locked the door behind him, dropping the boxes and walking up to Neil.

“Andrew,” Neil said, trying to keep his hold on reality. Trying to keep himself from going back to that place.

“Stop it. Nathan is dead,” Andrew said bluntly, shocking a bit of the haze out of him, but he could still see that man looking at him across the street, his face warping into his fathers until he didn’t even know if he really had seen a stranger, or if it was just a coping mechanism. If he had seen his father.

He puts his hand on the wall, needing something sturdy and stable to level his head. It wasn’t enough. He took another breath, but it’s strained by the now-familiar signs of a starting panic attack. 

“Look at me,” Andrew repeated, placing his hand on Neil’s chin to make him meet his eyes and a steady hand against his chest. Neil lifted his gaze, unsure if his upset stomach was more rattled by his disturbing thoughts or by Andrew’s touch.

“Your name is Neil Josten. You are 24 years old. You are a starting striker of the Columbia Spartans. You have a degree in linguistics. You are the proud father of two annoying furry creatures. You are Neil Josten and you are home. And you are safe,” Andrew said, in a monotone voice, as if he were narrating the slow movement of a glacier, but his unwavering tone and his hands on Neil’s body managed to ground him once more. He let a bit of himself lean against Andrew, knowing he wouldn’t flinch under Neil’s weight.

Neil clenched his hands at his sides, pressing his nails into his palms as he ached closeness. Andrew considered him, sensing the tension in Neil’s muscles. He reached done with the hand he had held to Neil’s chin and grabbed his wrist, coaxing his fingers to unclench before he placed Neil’s hand to the back of his neck.

“From the shoulders up,” he said. Neil nodded in understanding, gripping onto Andrew. He didn’t know how long they sat there, with Andrew’s hand against his chest and Neil clinging to him, but Andrew didn’t seem to mind, so when his heart finally went back to its normal pace, Andrew tapping his finger along to the calm pulse he felt under his palm, Neil rested his head against Andrew’s shoulder. 

***

Andrew didn't know how long they stayed like that, with Neil pressing up against him. The contact didn't bother him much. What bothered him was more so the realization of how... vulnerable Neil was. HE was still the strongest person Andrew knew, but now that Neil wasn't in a dorm room on campus but out in the real world, where pseudo-Nathans walked around and people came up to him, invading his privacy, Neil was likely to be a bit shaken up. Andrew should have seen it coming, really. 

“I’m sorry,” Neil mumbled.

“What did I tell you about saying stupid things?” Andrew snapped back, pulling his hand away from Neil’s chest. Neil lifted his head, a shadow of a smile on his face.

“It goes against my nature, Drew, not saying stupid things,” Neil said, his eyes shining with that fire that made Andrew’s stomach roil.

“You make me want to slap you,” Andrew said. He wasn’t a liar.

“I know…” Neil said, a tempting smile spreading across his features, but Andrew knew that Neil was nowhere near the right state of mind to give consent, and he was not going to listen to Neil’s ‘always’ bullshit. It was either a clear-minded yes, or a no. That was it, and Andrew would sooner let Kevin drive his car than take advantage of Neil in this state.

“How are you looking forward to meeting our new teammates,” Neil said sarcastically after a short silence.

“Boring,” Andrew answered. Neil smiled as if he had expected that answer.

“I think we will make loads of friends quickly,” Neil said in fake confidence. Andrew almost scoffed at the remark.

“What, do you think the scars, the antagonism, or the tragic backstories will bring in the admirers? Oh joy, I reckon we will be quite an attraction.” 

Neil shrugged. “I have no intention of entertaining anyone.”

“You always manage somehow,” Andrew replied. Wherever Neil went, drama followed. Andrew figured he should congratulate Neil for his undoubtedly true statement five years prior. Rumor has it I’m pretty interesting. Andrew’s skin tingled at the memory, but he didn’t let it show. 

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Neil said, unwinding his hands from Andrew’s hair and pulling back from him. 

Andrew stood up, heading to the kitchen, where he was greeted by a hungrily meowing cat. 

“Neil, feed your entitled bastard,” Andrew said, reaching into the freezer for ice cream.  
“You shouldn’t have named him King if you didn’t want him to be entitled, Drew,” Neil said and Andrew could hear the smirk in his voice.

“Perhaps,” Andrew responded as Neil opened a can of cat food and cat number two came running into the kitchen at the smell. They meowed at Neil’s feet, who crooned over them and petted them as they attacked the goo Neil put into their dish bowls. 

Neil came over to Andrew, stealing the spoon from his hand and taking a huge bite of the ice cream, chewing it before swallowing.

“That is atrocious, Josten,” Andrew said, grabbing the spoon back as he himself took a small bite and savored it.

“What are you gonna do about it, Minyard?” Neil said, grabbing the spoon once more, taking another gargantuan bite, sucking on the spoon unnecessarily, and swallowing it, all while looking Andrew right in the eyes.

Andrew gave him an unimpressed look, stealing his spoon back again and taking another small bite. Neil reached over again and Andrew swiftly moved out of his reach, opening the fridge and tossing another ice cream to Neil.

“Have your own.”

Neil rolled his eyes. “Sharing is caring.”

“I don’t share, and you of all people should know, I care about nothing.”

Neil smirked at him. “Are you trying to get fresh with me?”

“I hate that Nicky taught you that phrase,” Andrew scowled down at his ice cream.

Neil acknowledged Andrew’s blatant avoidance of the question, understanding the answer.

“Heard the captain’s a real supporter of the good old ‘team spirit’ strategy,” Neil said.

“Oh my, want to bet how long it takes before they write us off as hopeless cases? An hour, maybe two?” 

“I don’t bet, but I would give it a week or so.”

“Oh Neil, whenever did you succumb to the plague on society that is optimism?” 

Neil ignored the question and asked another instead, a sly grin stretching across his face.

“Want to make things a little more exciting?” Neil asked that fire that was always in him coming to the surface to play, sparking Andrew’s interest immediately.

“I’m listening.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this is more of a filler chapter to get to know the team and the overall dynamic I'm going for here, next chapter will be when the rivalry really starts up, when the media kinda take hold of the situation, so I'm looking forward to writing that...  
> Anyway, for now, hope you like the decision for Jeremy to be on the team with them. And yes, there will be Jerejean in the future.  
> Let me know if there is anything specific you would want to see in the fic XDXD

CHAPTER 2

Neil woke up on Monday morning, his body aching to get back onto a court. The smell of coffee was thick in the air, meaning Andrew was already in the kitchen. He groaned and got up out of bed, pulling on sweatpants and his old PSU Foxes hoodie.

He sauntered downstairs, watching Andrew eat a piece of chocolate cake while he made himself a smoothie for breakfast. He wanted to voice his concerns about Andrew’s diet choices, but he knew that wouldn’t do him any good, remembering their conversation the other day. ( “I already gave up smoking for stickball, you aren’t taking sugar away from me.”)

He couldn’t help smile a bit at the thought of their little agreement. It wasn’t that they wanted to hide their relationship, they just had an understanding. That understanding being, that their personal lives were absolutely no one else’s business but their own. Though Andrew had come to care about Exy enough to block the goal during games at least, Neil knew that his protective streak had been the bigger factor in him choosing his career. 

So Neil had made a promise to himself a promise to make it as enjoyable for Andrew as he could. Watching everyone trying to piece together the nature of their relationship certainly did classify as interesting.

Andrew didn’t acknowledge the amused grin on Neil’s face, merely sending his healthy breakfast a glare and tapping his fingers on the table a bit impatiently.

“Are you anxious to get to practice?” Neil asked, raising an eyebrow at him. Andrew shrugged and waited for Neil as he gulped down his drink and got up as soon as Neil was done and made his way to the car. 

Neil refilled the cats’ bowls and joined Andrew in the Maserati. They rode in comfortable silence and as Andrew parked by the stadium, Neil turned to him.

“Thank you,” he said. Andrew nodding in understanding was just more proof that when it came to them, it wasn’t about big words and grand gestures, it was really the mundanity of it all. People who had believed more than anything that they had no future, sitting there, in a car, parked in front of the stadium, all deals with the Moriyama's sealed. And they had made it through.

They got out of the car, making their way towards the stadium. Another person parked a few places to the right from them, got out, and jogged up to them. Her smile was sweet and sincere and she reached them.

“Hi! You must be Andrew Minyard and Neil Josten, it’s really nice to meet you! I’m Layla Johnson!” she said in an excited voice. Andrew looked over and nodded in acknowledgment. Neil took her in, recognizing her immediately. She was the team’s best backliner. About a head taller than Neil, a lean figure with skin as dark as chocolate and a head of cornrows, she was objectively beautiful. 

“Nice to meet you, Layla,” Neil said, thinking what else he could say to someone he knew virtually nothing about, but Layla seemed to be fine with supplying a topic instead of him.

“I’m glad y'all are on our team, I have never personally played against the Foxes since I was North, but damn, seeing you rise to beat freaking Edgar Allan was the best thing to ever happen in the world of Exy,” she said, giving them another bright smile.

“That is all thanks to the power of teamwork,” Andrew said snarkily and Neil rolled his eyes.

“Kevin would kill himself if he heard that,” Neil said.

“Then I’ll make sure to repeat myself when he is around.”

Layla laughed nervously. “So it’s true, Kevin Day is a nightmare of a teammate?”

Neil considered his answer before saying, “Only if he thinks it will help you improve.”

“Junkie,” Andrew said, turning to the backliner. “Layla, you will have to excuse Josten here for his incessant fanaticism, you see, his entire life revolves around stickball, therefore his comments can be dismissed, or better yet, ignored.”

“Fuck off, Minyard,” Neil said a little smile tugging at his lips.

Layla snorted at their unnecessary antagonism and unlocked the doors to the stadium as they approached them.

“You’ll each get a pair today, don’t worry,” she said, leading them down a corridor to a sitting area with comfortable looking chairs and a huge TV, everything in the team colors- dark blue and white. As Layla showed them the small kitchen and changing rooms, coach Diana Ramos came out of her office, talking to someone on the phone in a pleasant voice. At first glance, she seemed to be the polar opposite of David Wymack, all smiles, and understanding where he was rough and unyielding, but Neil could see the determination in her clenched jaw. He could feel her presence like a physical weight, and it made him want to run laps as if to say ‘yes, I do belong here’. 

Andrew didn’t seem to be affected by her the way Neil was, because as she ended the call and walked up to them, he just carelessly watched her getting closer until she outstretched a hand.

“Hello, Josten. Minyard. It’s nice to see you here, I see you’ve met Johnson…” she said, acknowledging the backliner as they both shook her hand.

"Oh, yeah, I just showed them around. The rest of the team will probably kill me, that I deprived them of that joy, but I had to greet them properly," Layla said with a nervous laugh. It was obvious that she admired the Foxes a lot. ("Great. More Exy fanatics", Neil could almost hear Andrew think.)

Ramos shook her head in understanding and gave the two of them a fighter’s smile. “Well! I hope you are comfortable here! Johnson, you can go along and prepare, I have to talk to your new teammates here first,” she said, Layla nodding in understanding and walking over to the changing rooms. 

Ramos watched her leave before giving the two of them her undivided attention.

“So, welcome again! I trust you’ll find everyone tolerable. All the necessary paperwork has been faxed to me of course, but you will still be getting a routine checkup, and I would like to discuss further on some, uh, arrangements…” she said, switching her gaze to Neil.

He nodded along. Now that he was a pro player, the Moriyamas had to make sure their valuable asset was in good shape. Someone probably contacted Ramos to keep a closer eye on Neil. He figured it was a small price to pay for his freedom.

“Of course,” Neil said. Ramos eyed Andrew warily, so he added: “It’s fine, we can go in together,” and so the two of them followed her into her office.

She sat down on the other side of a desk facing the door in front of two large binders with their names on them. She flicked Andrew’s open and motioned them to sit down on a couple of spindly chairs in front of her.

“So, Andrew Minyard. Everything seems to be in order. If I recall correctly, you were forced to give up smoking? I’m sorry about that, but it’s a necessary precaution since the habit could result in health issues and therefore affect your performance. How have you been doing?” she said politely, continuing after Andrew shrugged.

Neil zoned out, watching Layla stretching on the court, wishing they could just play already, until another woman entered the room, smiling at them as they all turned around to look at her. 

“Oh, don’t mind me, you’ll be doing a checkup with me when you are done here,” she said, tying her greying blond hair into a ponytail.

“I think Minyard and I have discussed everything thoroughly enough,” Ramos said, and when Andrew didn’t object, she handed him keys to the stadium and he was ushered out by the blond woman.

“So, Neil, first off, I see you are taking some anti-anxiety medication, is that correct?”

“Yes,” Neil said, seeing her eyes catch on the scars that mutilated his face, but she didn’t comment, which he was thankful for.

“Ok, I won’t go over everything again, since you heard me talking to Minyard, so I’ll just discuss some personal irregularities,” she said and Neil nodded. He regretted not paying attention, but he knew Andrew would have every word memorized, so he didn’t worry much.

“First of all, I see that 75% of your salary is to go directly to Ichirou Moriyama’s trust fund, that is a very generous donation,” she said, a searching look in her eyes.

Neil shrugged, he had planned this conversation ahead of time.

“After Riko Moriyama’s death, he and I got into contact. He is a very smart man, who is very well informed about where the money is needed most in the world. I trust him to do what is best with the money. It is a large salary and I really don’t need it,” he said. 

Ramos looked at him with new-found respect he didn’t feel he deserved. It was a half-truth at best. Andrew and he had decided even their combined 125% of an Exy player’s salary was way too much to keep, and it was true that they had decided to give a third of what was left to charities, but he still felt a bit bad.

“Well, that is a really nice thing to do,” she said before moving onto other subjects.

Neil decided he liked her well enough, and was almost disappointed to leave, especially with what awaited him next. He really didn’t like showing anyone his scars, and he had a feeling that the new nurse wouldn’t be as accustomed to seeing mutilated bodies as Abby.

He waited in front of where her office was supposed to be for a few minutes before she emerged with Andrew, who gave Neil a once-over, narrowing his eyes in a silent question.

“It’s fine,” Neil whispered, even though it so obviously wasn’t, but there was not much he could do about it. He had to survive this inevitable reaction.

Andrew just raised an eyebrow and walked off. 

The woman noticed him, giving him a bright smile and introducing herself as “Carolin”. Neil entered the small nurse’s office. It smelled like antiseptics and everything was overly white.

“So, Neil Josten! I’ll just do a classic checkup, urine test, ask some questions, nothing to be scared of…” she said, and so Neil sat down on the medical seat.

“Height?” “5’3”

“Weight?” “118 pounds”

“Allergies?” “none”

Carolin laughed at that a bit, making Neil furrow his eyebrows in confusion.

“Well, I can’t disclose anything about my other patients, but it’s nice to see you aren’t allergic to redheads,” she said, smiling an innocent smile.

Neil felt his face burn. “That's so low…” he muttered.

Carolin laughed a bit and continued the questions.

“Any health irregularities or conditions?” “Uh, just panic attacks I think…”

“Have you been seriously sick in the last year?” “I don’t think so.”

“Have you taken any recreational drugs in the last year?” “Do cigarettes count?” “Yes” “Then yes”

“Are you sexually active?” 

Neil could feel himself recoiling from her. “Does it matter?” he asked, a bit snarkily. She just smiled up at him in response. 

“Yes, Neil,” she said, seemingly unperturbed by his hostility. He figured that would be the case after dealing with someone like Andrew.

“Yes,” he said, clenching his fists.

“Do you have multiple sexual partners?” “What?? NO!”

“Ok. Blood type?” “O negative” he responded, happy to get off of that subject.

“Any long-term medication… oh, that’s already been filled in… okay, I think everything is in order! Now, I’m going to need you to strip down into your underwear, I’ll take your blood pressure, check your breathing and reflexes, all of that stuff,” she said, unbothered. 

“Um, ok, sure… I just… I should probably… Ehm… I should probably warn you…” Neil spluttered as she looked at him kindly. Her eyes slid from the scars on his face to the armbands and she seemed to connect the dots. After all, it was common knowledge that he had been abducted by his ‘psychopathic father’.

“No worries dear, it’s all right. I can’t tell anyone, it’s in my contract and everything, you don’t have to worry."

Neil sniffed, hoping she would at least keep her cool. The first time Allison had seen the full spectrum of Neil’s ‘ouches’, she had nearly thrown up, not because she was revolted, but that someone could actually do that to another person. And she was one of the strongest people Neil knew.

He took off his armbands and saw her eyes widen in horror as she took in the awful round burn marks and vicious slashes, he grimaced at her in apology, taking off his shirt and pants. He sat back onto the seat, uncomfortable, as she looked at him with a mixture of horror, outrage, and worst of all, pity. 

“Can we get this over with?” he said and she gulped, staying still for about 10 seconds before she seemed to remember herself, and perked up. 

Any time she had to touch him during the checkup, she did so with overly-cautious fingers, as if he were made of glass. He had expected it, but it irritated him nonetheless.

When he could put all his clothes back on, he could see her opening and closing her mouth like a fish, contemplating whether or not she should say something. 

“Anything else?” Neil asked.

“Here you go, you can give it back at the end of the day,” she said meekly, handing him a cup for the urine sample.

He nodded and left the room, feeling his throat clench up at the less than pleasant interaction. 

Andrew, Layla, and a striker he hadn’t met yet but recognized as Jaden Laurent were sitting in the armchairs in the common area, presumably waiting for him, Layla bravely doing her best to hold a casual conversation with Andrew.

“So, why did you and Neil decide to join the same team?” Layla asked curiously.

Andrew tipped his head to the side in consideration.

“Because he still hasn’t scored on me and I can’t let the idiot’s ego go up in my absence,” Andrew responded, which was such an obvious lie to anyone who knew him, seeing as how much Andrew really cared about Exy, but their new teammates gladly accepted that answer with stifled laughs.

“You’re going to make practices a living hell for us, aren’t you?” Jaden groaned, “Knew I should have picked backliner when I was four…”

“Haha, have fun with that,” Layla smirked at him.

“You’ll have to make things interesting first, or some shit,” Neil said, sneaking up on them and plopping into an armchair next to Andrew, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, hey, my name is Jaden Laurent. Neil Josten, right?”

Neil nodded, smiling minutely before turning his attention back to the conversation. “If he deems you interesting enough, you won’t be able to get through him. If he deems you uninteresting, you might as well be practicing against no one. So be careful to choose the lesser of two evils,” Neil told Jaden matter-of-factly.

Jaden looked over at Andrew, who was looking at him as if he could learn all of his secrets just by doing so.

“Ok, that’s a lot of pressure. Um, so how did you come to classify as ‘interesting’?” Jaden asked conversationally.

“I hate him, and it’s fun to see him bend over backward,” Andrew said blandly, making Neil stare at him, his face growing uncomfortably hot, while Jaden just laughed.

“Or, well, I don’t want you to hate me, but if that’ll improve our chances this season, maybe I can get over it,” Jaden said.

“Ok, that was rude,” Layla said, making Jaden throw his arms in the air to defend himself.

Neil shook some very inappropriate thoughts out of his head, joining the conversation once more.

“So you joined our team out of spite?” Jaden laughed, “Jessie is going to cry,” he said, making Layla snort.

“He’ll enjoy that,” Neil mumbled. Layla laughed at that, as Andrew gave him an unimpressed look.

“Sadistic much?" Jaden joked.

"Tears can be interesting, not enough to captivate me unfortunately for you," Andrew said without flinching, tilting his head in consideration.

Jaden opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment, two men entered the room, stilling as they spotted Neil and Andrew in the armchairs. One’s face spread out into a toothy grin, approaching them hastily.

“Oh my god, Neil, Andrew, how have y'all been? It’s been way too long…” he said, pulling Neil in for a quick hug and nodding to Andrew, grin still in place.

“Nice to see you too, Jeremy,” Neil said, remembering their last match, by far the best he had ever played with the finishing score 8-7 in USC’s favor, winning the season. But it hadn’t been a bitter loss. Ever since Neil’s first year, the Trojans and Foxes supported each other every step of the way.

“I’m so excited to play with you on the same team. We really learned so much from the Foxes, y’all were amazing,” Jeremy said, plopping down on a couch and saying his hello to the rest of his teammates. 

“Hi, Drake Smith,” the other guy said, waving a little awkwardly before sitting down next to Jeremy. “It really is nice to have you on the team.”

Neil looked over at Andrew, who had leaned forward to assess the man. To further Andrew’s ‘interest’, the man was obviously a backliner, strong and tall, it was a bit unnerving, even to Neil.

“I think it will be, yes,” Andrew said, slumping back, his gaze resting on Drake for a few moments before switching back to Jeremy. Drake looked over at Neil, a bit confused, so Neil tried to give him a genuine smile.

“Jeremy! Jeremy Knox. Kevin will be jealous of us,” Andrew said, a slight note of amusement in his voice.

“Ahhh, Kevin Day, that insane bastard…” Jeremy said fondly.

Layla laughed. “Can I just say how surreal this is? You are talking about Kevin freaking Day as if he were your cousin Steve or something…” she said.

Jeremy rolled his eyes with an exasperated smile, “Layla, first of all, you are all amazing players, that’s how you got on this team. Second, and I quote ‘Exy is a glorified version of stickball, nothing more, nothing less. Fanaticism will get you nowhere,’” he said, smiling over at Andrew for a split second.

“Recognized for my kind words? You are a mystery, Jeremy Knox,” Andrew said with a blank expression and inclined head Neil could identify as amusement.

“So I’ve heard,” Jeremy said, the ever-present grin on his face growing.

As the conversation went on, more and more players joined them in the common area, and as the focus shifted from the two of them to other topics, they withdrew from the crowd. Neil silently beckoned Andrew to accompany him to the changing rooms. They walked through the locker room, finding their own next to each other with the numbers 16 and 17 on them, their uniforms inside with their names on the back, and a pair of standard Exy shoes, though they had their own with them. They went over to the gear, Neil finding his racket, the same model he had used at Palmetto but in colors of blue and white instead of the familiar orange. 

“This is going to take some getting used to,” Neil said, looking around at the foreign coloring and leaning against the lockers 

“Everyone seems too nice to be true…” Neil said, waiting for any input from Andrew to contradict him. When he received none, he said: “Carolin freaked out.”

“I figured,” Andrew said. 

Neil was silent for some time before continuing, “I’ll have to shower like it’s some kind of weird ritual,” Neil said.

“You don’t ‘have to’ anything,” Andrew said, turning to face him. Neil smiled.

“Maybe not, but I’d prefer it that way, you know that,” he said.

Andrew narrowed his eyes and stepped closer to Neil.

“I do know that. Yes or no?” 

“Yes,” Neil said, his lips parting even before Andrew caught them with his own, pressing him up against the blue lockers.

Andrew’s hands were a hot weight on Neil’s hips as his mouth continued to move against his own in that way that made Neil’s body ache. He felt Andrew’s hand at the hem of his shirt, and he breathed a ‘Yes’ into the small space between them. “Upper back and up,” Andrew said back before joining their lips once more, biting Neil’s lower lip, making Neil fist his hands in the back of Andrew’s shirt. Pressing in closer, his mind and body screaming for more. He felt Andrews' hands slide up his shirt, rough and deliberate, tracing every scar they could find, leaving fire in their wake and kissing Neil in rhythm to the touches. ‘You’re beautiful, you’re beautiful, you’re beautiful’ Andrews fingers trailing his skin and lips against his own said, when Andrew couldn’t.

Neil let out an unflattering sound, making Andrew pull away, his breath is slightly uneven. His eyes are hooded and his pupils and dilated, and all Neil could think about was how fucking hot he looked. He leaned forward, pressing a kiss to the corner of Andrew’s mouth, and then another to his jaw, trailing down his jawline to his neck, kissing roughly, feeling Andrew’s pulse under his lips and sending the way he dipped his head to the side. Neil smiled as Andrew mumbled the obligatory “Still not attractive,” and Neil continued until he felt a hand slide from under his shirt and gently grab his chin, directing his head to face Andrew once more.

“You don’t ‘have to’ anything,” Andrew repeated, his voice low, almost a growl. Neil felt a surge of something in his chest, something that made him want to cry and laugh at the same time. Raw feeling towards the man in front of him. Neil’s breath was shaky as he nodded and kissed Andrew again, and again, and again.

Andrew pulled away, and stepped back, looking at the red-lipped, aroused mess he had made of Neil.

“We’ll continue this later,” Andrew said, only making Neil’s situation worse. Andrew rolled his eyes. “Our new teammates are waiting in the other room, Junkie,” he said. 

“Oh, uh, right…” Neil said as Andrew stared him down.

“Not helping,” he spat to Andrew, who arched an eyebrow and walked back to sit on a bench on the other side of the room.

A few minutes later, they came back into the common area, where Jessie, the captain, was telling the rest of the team about a few new drills they would be including in their practices this year. They were about 5’7 and had a comforting presence, with close-cropped brown hair.

“Oh, there you guys are! So I was just saying we could include some new drills this year, we are always happy for any input or suggestions of course!” Jessie said.

“Well, uh, we could show you guys some drills we did with the Foxes,” Neil shrugged, but it seemed to catch the attention of everyone in the room.

“You,” Andrew corrected, bored.

“Whatever, so, should we get changed?” Neil asked.

Jessie nodded, and the team dispersed, walking into the changing rooms. Neil avoided eye contact as he pulled his jersey over his shirt and wriggled out of the one underneath. Jeremy, who was closest to them didn’t seem fazed by this behavior. Neil thought back to Jean and his own scars, his heart clenching a bit at the thought, but he was thankful nonetheless for Jeremy’s understanding.

They took their equipment and set off towards the court. Ramos was watching them from the home bench.

They ran a few laps and started with some simple drills, moving onto more difficult ones as the sun steadily rose higher and higher in the sky. Neil showed the team a few Raven drills, and they seemed enthusiastic to face the new challenge. 

“Ok, I think that’s enough of that,” Jessie said as they wiped the sweat from their forehead. “Water break everyone, then we’ll split up into two teams, even versus odd numbers.” 

Everyone shuffled towards the inner court, Layla giving him a friendly shoulder punch. “Guess who’s your backliner for today,” she said. 

Neil grinned, “Have fun chasing after me, Johnson.”

“Oh, cocky, are we? Well, I for one am interested to see you go up against Andrew,” she said, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Who knows, maybe today’s the day I finally score on that son of a bitch,” Neil said with determination, which Layla misinterpreted as anger.

“You two really don’t like each other, huh?” she asked.

“He hates me,” Neil shrugged.

“Wow, rough buddy… well, good luck out there,” she said, pulling her helmet back on and walking back onto the court.

Neil stayed on the bench for the first ten minutes or so, watching everyone play. 

They were good. 

He watched the seemingly effortless passed between the players, the calculated checks and moves. They reminded Neil a bit of the Ravens, the way they seemed to work on the court as one, but there was a crucial difference. The Spartans were having fun. And Andrew was an unrelenting block in the goal. Jeremy was on the opposite team and the new competition and surroundings were enough to keep him interested for now. He fired each shot back with unforgiving force, steadily making the strikers more and more frustrated, yet somehow gleeful at the same time.

Neil was beaming as he stepped onto the court, replacing a guy called Liam, who smiled at him as they passed.

Jessie shouted for the start of the game and the dealer hurled the ball towards Jessie, who caught it out of the air with ease, dodging their mark and sprinting towards the goal. Neil saw Drake running towards her and he placed himself at a good angle just as Drake smashed the ball out of their racket, and threw it across the room to Neil. He caught it, and pressed the racket with the ball as close to his chest as possible as Layla checked him, he rolled to the floor but got back to his feet and sprinted towards the goal, counting his steps, leaving Layla in the dust. Another backliner tried to stop him but he sidestepped and threw the ball viciously at the goal, where Andrew swatted it away as if it were nothing.

“Better luck next time!” Andrew said in a sing-song sort of way, as Neil sprinted to get closer to the ball.

“Fuck you!” he screamed back, not looking over his shoulder, but he was smiling under his helmet like nothing in the world could go wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andreil banter, misread signs, the Spartans' first game, and Neil on press duty are factors that, when put together, are bound to start something interesting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha, finally, the start of the Minyard-Josten rivalry. We stan. Comments and kudos are very much appreciated!  
> Hope you enjoy :)

Andrew watched from the goal as Neil advanced, shifting his footing to throw Andrew off, but as he took his shot at the goal, Andrew stepped forward, hurtling the ball all the way back at Jeremy, who gave him a grin through his helmet, and the game went on.

Neil threw his hands up in an exasperated gesture, but if the spark in his eyes was anything to go by, Andrew knew Neil was having the time of his life.

As they practiced, Andrew’s impromptu team didn’t let in a point. The backliners were too used to their teammates’ playing styles and tricks. And Neil, who could just barely slip past them, could never get through Andrew.

It was quite entertaining, Andrew thought, as he watched Neil duck past his mark, Annie, only to be stopped by Drake moments after. It reminded him a bit of Neil’s first few months at Palmetto when he had been so determined to earn his place on the team.

But this time, no one was arguing. It was obvious that even fresh out of college, Neil was one of the best strikers on the team. 

When Jessie had the ball, they sprinted towards the opposite side of the court, but Layla was waiting for them, feigning a swing at their racket before checking them.

Jessie laughed as they got back to their feet, but the ball was already in possession of Jaden, who took his ten steps and passed the ball to Neil. Neil didn't hesitate a second, slamming the ball up the court towards Andrew, who deflected the shot.

“Are you even trying, Josten?” Andrew sneered at him.

“Go fuck yourself, Minyard!” Neil yelled back.

“Then there wouldn’t be anyone to deflect your pathetic shots, would there?”

Neil growled before returning to the game. Their teammates gave the two of them wary glances, distracting them enough for Jeremy to sneak past the backliners and score a goal that the goalie, Mark, barely missed, finally making the game 1-0 after half an hour.

The rest of practice was pretty standard, drill after drill until his arms started getting a bit sore. 

Andrew grit his teeth as he deflected shot after shot, trading casual insults with Neil every time he got too close. 

“Hey Josten!” he said when Neil fired a shot he had barely been able to deflect. Neil turned towards him with a sour expression.

“What?” he yelled, already jogging up to him.

Andrew dropped his racket to meet Neil halfway. Layla and Annie exchanged a wary glance. 

“I can’t believe you didn’t train like this at Palmetto,” Neil said, a note of exasperation in his voice. Andrew shrugged.

“Wasn’t worth my time. Do you want to order Thai tonight?” Andrew said. Neil raised his eyebrows at him.

“Did you call me here to discuss dinner options?”

“What does it look like, junkie. Not everything is about stickball.”

Neil actually laughed. “Fine, whatever, let’s just get back to the game. We are supposed to be professionals here,” Neil says as he starts walking away.

***

“Hey, Minyard! Andrew! Can I call you that?” Jessie said as they approached Andrew after practice. Neil was still in the showers, not comfortable with showering in front of everyone after just a few weeks, so Andrew had taken to stalling in the common area.

Andrew shrugged, making Jessie’s smile impossibly brighter.

“I can’t believe I haven’t had a one on one talk with you yet! Please excuse my poor captaining skills. We are really happy to have you on the team, so if there is anything you need to be more… ahhh, comfortable, you just let me know, ok?” they said, reaching to put a hand on Andrew's shoulder before realizing and pulling it back.

“What are you referring to?” Andrew asked, mildly intrigued.

“Nothing? Just wanted to let you know,” they said.

“There is a reason why you wanted to tell me that,” Andrew said. A statement, not a question. He could see Jessie look around their shoulder towards the locker rooms, uncomfortable. 

“Right. Sorry. Well, I mean… some of us have noticed that you and Neil don’t really get along. I mean, that’s fine! Not everybody clicks,” they said, looking at him, waiting for a response to a question they didn’t ask.

“So, I wanted to ask if that is going to be a problem,” they continued

“Josten is always a problem,” Andrew responded.

“Right. Um. Because it kind of looked like you wanted to rip Neil apart today when you called him over.”

Andrew tried to look at their previous conversation from an outsider’s point of view. With Neil’s parting words and Andrew’s generally unpleasant body language, he guessed it could be misinterpreted as a hostile exchange.

“I hate him,” Andrew shrugged.

Jessie sniffed uncomfortably. “Ok, just… Keep it off the court, alright?” And when Andrew nodded, they dismissed him with a “See you tomorrow then!” and ran towards the exit.

Andrew stood there for a minute before he heard Neil clear his throat behind him. He turned to see a barely contained smirk on his face.

“Did I miss something?” Neil asked.

“Just the fact that our antagonistic behavior seems to be making everyone believe I will kill you.”

Neil considered that. 

“I’m at what, 325% now? They had better start betting on a date,” Neil said.

“I suppose,” Andrew said with a hint of a smile as they walked towards the parking lot. 

***

The next month passed in a blur of practice, assembling furniture and Neil, and as the date of their first game got closer and closer, Ramos pushed them more and more, putting everyone more and more off edge. Some vicious insults were exchanged, but in contrast to the Foxes, the team got along pretty well, though Andrew usually only bothered interacting with Neil or Jeremy outside of practice.

As the days went on, there was also a sufficient amount of muttering about the state of his and Neil’s relationship.

The day before the first game, Andrew lingered in the small kitchen attached to the common area, waiting for Neil, when he recognized the voices of Natasha and Sam, the team’s offensive dealers, coming closer. He was about to leave and wait by the car, when he heard his name, and decided to stay, making himself a cup of tea.

“It just doesn’t make sense, if they hate each other so much, why would they sign with the same team? I swear every time Andrew looks at him, he looks like he is plotting murder.”

“Yeah, wasn’t he in juvie or something for almost beating some guys to death?” Sam questioned. There was a pause. “I mean I don’t really know his life, and he hasn’t really done more than ignore me, so it’s not my place to say, but that isn’t exactly comforting.”

Another pause.

“I just wonder what Neil could have possibly done to get on his bad side, I mean, he is pretty sweet unless he is dissing nosy reporters,” Natasha responds. Andrew resists the urge to snort. Neil was a lot of things, but he sure as hell wasn’t sweet.

“Either he is really stupid or really clever, I mean, it doesn’t even look like he gives a shit you known?”

“I guess I just thought they’d be… honestly I have no idea what I was expecting, but Jeremy always praised them and still talks of them as if they were some inseparable duo.”

Another pause, longer this time, before Sam asks, hesitantly. “Yo… maybe I’m just hallucinating, but… now that I think about it… It looks like they are, or were, really close. And not just in a friendly way. What if… what if they like, I don’t know, signed with the team, but now they are in some sort of fight?” 

“Huh… yeah, maybe. But even if they are friends, it’s still weird, you’ve got to admit.”

“I meant that they were fucking and broke up.”

“Ugh, Sam, it’s not always about sex,” Natasha said as Sam cackled. 

“Hey, you never know, would you have pegged Knox as gay if we hadn’t caught him making out with Moreau after that game with the Tigers?” 

“You disgust me,” Natasha said.

“That’s homophobia man, shut up,” Sam snorts.

“No, I just don’t think that that’s the case is all,” she says.

“Yeah, I don’t know. Just a theory. Honestly can’t imagine those two with anyone.”

The water finished boiling and Andrew poured it in the cup, stepping into the common area, just as Natasha was about to respond. She noticed the movement and turned around, her face turning pale at the sight of him.

“Ehm, hi,” she said with an anxious smile. Causing Sam to look over as well, and cringe.

Andrew just stared at her, mildly amused.

“Hello,” he said, before sitting down a few seats away from them.

“Ehm, so, how are you looking forward to your first pro game?” Sam asked nervously.

“Ask someone who cares,” Andrew said, sipping his tea, even though it was still too hot to drink.

They sat there in silence, Andrew ignoring them until Neil noisily made his way out of the locker room. 

“Andrew-“ he faltered as he walked into the common room to see Natasha and Sam sitting there.

“Wait outside,” Andrew said, drinking the rest of his scalding tea, and moved towards the kitchen to clean the cup.

As he walked out, passing by the two teammates, Sam was giving Natasha a meaningful look. 

They had talked about this. They didn’t care what the rest of the world thought about them, though hearing those speculations had been quite interesting.

Neil was waiting for him by the car, an annoyingly attractive grin on his face.

“Tomorrow is game day,” he said stupidly.

“I have been made aware of this fact, yes,” Andrew says, but he knew full well what Neil was grinning about. He was finally showing some interest in the sport, Neil was just smart enough not to point it out. Andrew’s spite was a powerful thing.

“Are you going to be able to score at least once?” Andrew said, making Neil grin even more.

“I guess we’ll have to wait and see,” he said, sitting in the passenger seat. “Is anyone going to be able to score on you at least once?” he added smugly.

Andrew gave him an unimpressed look. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

***

Jessie turned out to be worse than Dan or Neil. They were running around, checking on each player individually. It was the third time they had come up to Andrew, checking if they could really, like, for sure, keep him on for an entire half, when he lost it.

“Stop. You are micromanaging. If you want to win this stupid game, clear your head. And don’t come over here again. I said yes.”

Jessie gulped, but gave him a curt nod and eased up a bit after that.

Neil was pulling obsessively adjusting the bandana on his head that he refused to ditch, no matter how many times he got mocked for it. 

They had spoken to the old Foxes over the phone before the game, all of whom had wished them good luck, surprisingly even Aaron. Nicky had sobbed over the phone that he would be there if he could take time off work.

“All right people! You know why we are here, you know what to do, so go out there and drive them into the ground, all right?” Ramos said, dragging Andrew out of his thoughts.

“Here here!” someone yelled from the back, diffusing the tension a bit. 

“Alright! Starting lineup, please come here!” Jessie said, their voice shaking a bit. 

It was a risky move, putting both Neil and Andrew on from the start, but it had been a vote of confidence, and the team wanted to throw the Scorpions off since not many people from the pro leagues have ever played against them. And it was a home game, so they would have the support of the crowd.

As the court doors opened and everyone filed on for warm-ups, Andrew sized up the Scorpions. They were a slightly larger team, but Andrew could spot the striker, Blue, he had been told to keep an eye on from the other side of the court. Tall, pale, and a bit too skinny. He didn’t look like a threat though, nothing about the team seemed extraordinary.

After a while, they returned to the home bench, where Jessie gave them a few more stressed out words of encouragement before they were called onto the court. 

“Jessie Williams! Neil Josten! Samuel Grant! Layla Johnson! Anna Black! Andrew Minyard!”

They all went to their starting positions as the Scorpions were called onto the court. Neil ran over to Jessie and whispered something into their ear. They gave him a troubled look, but Neil was already running towards Andrew, who raised an eyebrow when Neil reached him. 

“The game is about to start, wouldn’t want to miss that, Junkie,” Andrew said.

“The other team isn’t very interesting,” Neil said, giving him an analyzing look. Andrew shrugged and took a step forward, getting into Neil’s face. The crowd was roaring. Their teammates were glancing over at them with fear, except for Sam, who was studying them curiously.

“You came over here to bribe me,” Andrew said, eyeing the idiot.

“I guess we’ll see… I’ll decide after the game,” Neil said with his instigator smile in place. Andrew pushed him away to go back to his place before the referees could interfere.

The Scorpions were given the ball, and the game started. The ball passed from player to player at a remarkable speed, throwing the backliners off their game. The Scorpion striker Blue got checked by Layla and there was a brief scuffle for the ball, which was quickly grabbed by Annie, who passed it up the court to Jessie, but it was snatched out of the air by the Scorpion dealer, who slipped past Sam to pass the ball to the other striker, who passed to Blue. Blue ducked to avoid Layla, taking his ten steps, and hurtling the ball towards the goal. 

Andrew contemplated as the ball sailed towards him, staying still as a statue until the last possible moment. He looked over at Neil, who was looking over at him, and reached over to stop the ball, missing by barely an inch from where the ball hit the wall behind him, igniting it red. Andrew tipped his head to the side, looking directly at Neil, who gave him the middle finger very indiscreetly, as the crowd erupted in response.

The rest of the Spartans shook it off, and Sam was given the ball, hitting it hard. Neil chased after it, leaving his backliner in the dust, catching it out of the air, and pressing the racket to his chest as he got checked. It was a move he used way too often. He scrambled back to his feet, using up his steps, and passing it back down the court to Sam, since Jessie was at an unfortunate angle. Sam caught it with a laugh and passed it right back to Neil with no one in the way. Andrew could see the backliners lunging towards Neil, but he dodged and approached the goal. Andrew knew he was going to score. Probably a shot to the close right of the goalie with a diversion to the top? 

Neil slammed the ball towards the goal, and Andrew’s suspicions were confirmed. As the goalie outstretched to block the corners- easy targeting areas, Neil took his shot towards the middle of the goal. The wall turned red. 1-1

Jessie patted Neil on the back as everyone got back to their places. 

Andrew didn’t let a single goal in for the rest of his half, firing the balls back at the striker’s feet, tripping one up, and getting her off the court. Andrew and Jessie were the only players staying for the entire half. Neil got subbed for Jeremy somewhere towards the end of the half, a vicious backliner ramming him against the plexiglass, frustrated that Neil kept slipping past him. Andrew was about to go and slam his exy racket into the asshole’s stomach, but Neil signaled to him to stay in place as he was helped off the court.

When they called halftime, the crowd was roaring, the score at 6-1 in the Spartans’ favor. As they all filed off the court, everyone was cheering and patting each other on the back. 

“What the fuck was that?” Neil asked, standing up, a nasty bruise peeking out from under his bandana.

“Woah, calm down! Andrew blocked every shot except for that first one!” Jeremy said.

“Oh come on Jer’ we both know he could have blocked that,” Neil rolled his eyes.

“I could, but I didn’t,” Andrew said, looking at Ramos as Neil threw sighed, loud and long. She nodded at him. Ok. Jeremy, We’ll keep you on for a bit longer. Second half lineup, get out there, keep the point gap as large as possible, you’ve got this.”

They won 11-4, and Andrew was just looking forward to going home after shaking hands with the Scorpions, when Jeremy jogged up towards him, his infectious smile in place. 

“You were amazing, man! I’m going to go find Jean… make sure to stay away from the vultures!” he said with a wink and a wave, before running off towards the locker rooms.

Andrew pulled his helmet on, hoping the press would ignore him in favor of the others. As he walked after Jeremy, he saw that the vultures had already encircled Layla, Jessie, and Neil. This was going to be fun.

He stepped into the common area, where the TV was already on ESPN, showing his teammates’ sweaty faces in high definition.

“Williams, Williams!” One of them screamed and Jessie turned towards them, as the rest of them shut up to hear them.

“How do you feel about today’s outcome? What is your prediction for the Spartans this season?” the reporter asked.

“I am certainly confident that our team will do well this year, but it’s too early in the season to predict more. However, with two brilliant new additions to our lineup, the future doesn’t look bad,” they said with a smile.

With this, there was more yelling, as they tried to get Neil’s attention.

“Neil Josten! What are your thoughts on the Spartans and how would you compare the team to the Foxes?” another reporter shouted over the others.

“The Foxes had a very specific kind of teamwork. I’d say both teams are amazing, and I cannot wait to see the Foxes play again with Robin Cross as captain. The Spartans have been very accepting and it has been amazing, training with new people and reuniting with others.”

Before anyone else could steal Neil away from the reporter, he shouted, “How do you feel about playing on the same team as Andrew Minyard, former goalie of the Palmetto State Foxes, being his ex-captain.”

“Oh, I have a few comments on Minyard’s performance,” Neil said, with a smirk and a dangerous glint in his eyes. The screen showed a few shots of Neil flipping Andrew off, and Andrew pushing him. 

“Would you care to share them?” Another reporter asked.

“Minyard might be the best goalie of this generation, but he should probably get a better attention span, or people won’t be so willing to cooperate,” he said, looking right into the camera.

Andrew felt a tug in his gut. Neil was flirting with him on national television.

“Neil! NEIL JOSTEN!” people screamed his name over each other. Neil pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, quieting them down.

“Neil Josten! Do you and goalkeeper Andrew Minyard have a difficult relationship? Will this affect your performance on the court?!”

Neil paused as cameras clicked. “You could say that. I’m pretty sure he hates me. And no, it will not affect our performance on the court, we are professionals here.”

“JOSTEN, JOSTEN, NEIL!” the reporters screamed over each other. 

“Any Exy related questions?!” Layla yelled over the reporters, who quieted down, asking a few more standard questions and congratulating them on their victory.

When Jessie cut the interview off, and they walked into the common area, where Andrew was waiting patiently with the rest of the team, they could hear the reporters yelling questions at their backs.

“Ok, so, that went well, uh… I… I have to go take a breather…” Jessie said, sitting down on the sofa, where Annie was still snickering, and patted her back reassuringly.

“Same old Neil Josten. Have you ever gone in front of a camera without causing a firestorm?” Jeremy asked from where he was standing at Jean’s side.

“You should know by now, that in fact he hasn’t,” Jean said reproachfully. 

“Meh, free entertainment. Just… don’t kill each other or something, I’m not helping anyone with a body,” Jaden said, earning a few laughs.

“Ok, uh, yeah. Don’t kill each other, I’ll let PR deal with this because I just want to go home if that’s ok,” Jessie said.

“Sure, captain,” Layla winked.

Neil smirked at Andrew, who looked back at him, wishing they could just be home already.

***

A few hours later, Andrew was kissing Neil senseless, pressing him down onto the mattress.

“Any more comments on my performance?” Andrew said as he pulled away, raising an eyebrow at Neil, who laughed, breathless. 

“Well, I’m just going to have to keep insulting you on TV, if this is where it will lead me, aren’t I?” Neil said, pushing himself up onto his elbows.

Andrew rolled his eyes, leaning in as Neil mumbled a “Yes,” and capturing Neil’s lips in his own, kissing lazily. Andrew wondered when they had become so disgustingly domestic, but he didn’t mind a single bit.

They were interrupted by the buzzing of Andrew’s phone. He pulled away, reached for it, and sat up on the bed. It was Nicky.

“What do you want, Nicky?” Andrew said as soon as the call connected.

“OH MY GOD, NEIL CAUSED A FUCKING UPROAR CHECK YOUR PHONES YOU IDIOTS OH MY GOD OH MY GOD, THIS IS BEAUTIFUL, I CAN’T BELIEVE-”

“Mind telling me what you are talking about?” Andrew said as Neil looked at him questioningly.

“OK, OK. I’M CALM. I’m calm. Uh, so, basically, everyone thinks yall hate each other’s guts and people are tweeting about how they saw you arguing when they spotted you somewhere and stuff, and people are speculating what happened between the two of you and it’s insane, and all the Foxes are being literally spammed with questions about you two, and like… yall have been AFK for the last three hours and… it’s a mess. People are already choosing sides and stuff, and you are now the third and fifth most searched on ‘trending’. And it’s amazing. Ehm. That’s it,” Nicky rambled.

Andrew had put him on speakerphone somewhere in the middle and Neil was now barely containing his laughter.

“Ok,” Andrew said. “It’s really none of anyone’s business.” 

“I know, I know… It’s just… ugh, just please address the issue so that I know what to tell all the rabid fans,” Nicky sighed.

“Ok. Bye, Nicky,” he said, before disconnecting the call.

Andrew opened Twitter on his phone, looking down at all of the recent posts he had been tagged in.

@k.luves.exy / @a_minyard we need answers, when is he going to address this??? 

@livindalife / Ok so there is CHAOS in everything. For those who don’t know. @neiljos10 insulted @a_minyard on national television. On top of this, the two seemed to be very hostile towards each other throughout the game [picture 1,2]. A fan sitting near the home bench also apparently heard Josten cussing Andrew out after his half. After this, a lot of photos of the two of them surfaced, most also featuring @k_day_queenofexy. And to be honest, it looks like they hate each other. [pictures 3-26] Both have been silent on the matter ever since. 

@minyardisluv / ok but I am so looking forward to seeing @a_minyard respond to this hahaha #teamminyard

@fucktheravens / I don’t get it, why would @a_minyard and @neiljos10 be on the same team if they hate each other, seems off. I mean, it’s Neil Josten. He is known for stirring shit up, maybe it’s like a private joke or something.  
@PSUfoxesmybabies / @fucktheravens trueeeeee but that doesn’t explain the pictures. Nuuuuu my children can’t hate each other @a_minyard pls tell me this is a joke

@ifUnoluvexy_inoluvU / can we just appreciate poor @jwilliamsss looking so out of place next to legendary instigator @neiljos10 XDXD bless their innocent pure heart. ALSO, I used to go to PSU and I heard @a_minyard ‘s twin complaining about Neil all the time, so maybe that had smth to do with all of this?

@knoxsomesenseintoyou / Ok but this is hilarious. Am I the only one who finds this hilarious? I don’t have a life so I need a good rivalry to follow lmao. Also @neiljos10 @a_minyard I love you both and I don’t know which side to pick, so know I don’t hate either one of you hahaha

@exyisseksy / I love @neiljos10 way too much, I swear- #teamjosten (sorry @a_minyard )

Andrew read the tweets to Neil, who looked a bit stunned.

“What the fuck, most of the pictures of you and me hating each other aren’t even pictures of me. It’s Aaron,” Andrew said, a little insulted.

Neil laughs. “Makes sense, let me see… wow people are way too invested in this. How did they even get these pictures???” 

Andrew huffed, writing out a tweet of his own.

@a_minyard / @neiljos10 You’re right, I do hate you. Maybe if you weren’t so focussed on me, you wouldn’t get yourself rammed against the plexiglass. 

He pressed send, letting Neil read it, before getting up and dragging him into the kitchen to get some ice cream.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start of the rivalry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol yall have no idea how much fun it was writing the tweets XDXD  
> I hope you like this chapter!

///@a_minyard / @neiljos10 You’re right, I do hate you. Maybe if you weren’t so focussed on me, you wouldn’t get yourself rammed against the plexiglass.  
@minyardisluv/ oh my FUCKING god yes. @a_minyard did not disappoint

///@a_minyard / @neiljos10 You’re right, I do hate you. Maybe if you weren’t so focussed on me, you wouldn’t get yourself rammed against the plexiglass.  
@frenchbaguette/ harsh, he could have been hurt :(( #teamjosten

///@a_minyard / @neiljos10 You’re right, I do hate you. Maybe if you weren’t so focussed on me, you wouldn’t get yourself rammed against the plexiglass.  
@fucktheravens/ ok people, I get the hype but think about it. I don’t know… When Andrew wants to be an asshole, he just ignores you (if you haven’t seen the legendary video of him blatantly ignoring everything and everyone while on press duty, you are missing out lol). So. Why would he respond? And with something so petty? Seems more like something Neil would do. And again they are on the same team. It’s just not adding up  
@boydiloveexy/ @fucktheravens you bring up some good points... but I shall disregard them completely, for I am here for the drama  
@fucktheravens/ @boydiloveexy understandable, have a good day hahaha

///@a_minyard / @neiljos10 You’re right, I do hate you. Maybe if you weren’t so focussed on me, you wouldn’t get yourself rammed against the plexiglass.  
@jeremyxjean / lmaooooo I am dead, can’t wait for @neiljos10 to reply

///@a_minyard / @neiljos10 You’re right, I do hate you. Maybe if you weren’t so focussed on me, you wouldn’t get yourself rammed against the plexiglass.  
@k.luves.exy / aaaaaa this is what I needed fnsigbsogbgosbgvuos still can’t decide if I’m #teamjosten or #teamminyard

///@a_minyard / @neiljos10 You’re right, I do hate you. Maybe if you weren’t so focussed on me, you wouldn’t get yourself rammed against the plexiglass.  
@rip.rikoo / Who let @a_minyard exist seriously… He breaks Riko’s arm, basically making him spiral into committing suicide because he was ‘protecting @neiljos10’, and now this? Lol he is just a violent ass #teamjosten I guess  
@minyardisluv / @rip.rikoo mmmm and let’s forget that Riko abused all of his teammates and tried to kill Neil on the court after losing #angerissues … what happened was tragic, but don’t idolize an abusive narcissist #notevensorryaboutthis #teamminyard  
@rip.rikoo / @minyardisluv says the person who loves Andrew Minyard of all people… you know… that one player that is literally psychotic, I don’t care who you like, but stop harassing others  
@minyardisluv / @rip.rikoo I’m not the one who said @a_minyard isn’t allowed to exist like wtf man calm yourself lol

///@a_minyard / @neiljos10 You’re right, I do hate you. Maybe if you weren’t so focussed on me, you wouldn’t get yourself rammed against the plexiglass.  
@knoxsomesenseintoyou / lol people getting into fights while I’m just here waiting for @neiljos10 ‘s reply with a bowl of popcorn like- [GIF]  
@jamie.taylor/ @knoxsomesenseintoyou lol same  
@ifUnoluvexy_inoluvU / @knoxsomesenseintoyou ndfoshgfdnfodgdsnods THIS. this is me

Neil stopped reading the comment out loud to Andrew as the blond shoved a plate of eggs in front of him. King, who was sitting on Neil’s lap, leaped up onto the table to try and steal his breakfast, but Andrew scooped him up and plopped him back down onto the ground, letting him walk away with an annoyed meowl.

“I can’t believe how much people care about this,” Neil said as Andrew sat down next to him. “I don’t even care about us as much as some of these people do.”

Andrew snorted into his coffee, trying and failing to pass it off as a huff, making Neil beam.

“Well, are you going to reply, or what? It’s rude to keep someone on read, Neil,” Andrew said, making Neil roll his eyes.

“I guess that would be appropriate. I’m supposed to be the smartmouth idiot, remember?” Neil said.

“How I wish I couldn’t,” Andrew said. Neil had grown quite fond of Andrew’s comments about Neil giving him an aneurism with “that mouth of his”. He especially didn’t mind, since Andrew apparently thought the appropriate treatment for his condition was to try and kiss the dumbassery out of him.

///@a_minyard / @neiljos10 You’re right, I do hate you. Maybe if you weren’t so focussed on me, you wouldn’t get yourself rammed against the plexiglass.  
@neiljos10 / @a_minyard Maybe if you paid more attention to our opponents than to me getting rammed into the plexiglass, you could do a bit better. Bet you can’t keep your eyes off me ;)

Send tweet. 

Neil looked over to Andrew expectantly, who begrudgingly put down his coffee to look at his phone.

Neil smirked as he saw Andrew reading the tweet. And then reading it again, before he looked back up at Neil with a blank face. 

“Oh,” he said quietly and almost a bit seductively before looking back down to his phone, handing it to Neil when he was done.

@a_minyard / Found this really interesting article about why it’s hard for people to look away from tragedies. Very informative. https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/science-behind-why-we-can-t-look-away-disasters-ncna804966

Neil gave Andrew one of his rare smiles. “How did you just pull that article right out of your ass? What even is this?” he asked, incredulous.

Andrew shrugged, stealing back his phone as responses came flooding in. 

@neiljos10 / Definition of tragedy: Although the word tragedy is often used loosely to describe any sort of disaster or misfortune, it more precisely refers to a work of art that probes with high seriousness questions concerning the role of man in the universe.

@neiljos10 / today I received the most thoughtful compliment…

A response was there in seconds 

///@neiljos10 / today I received the most thoughtful compliment…  
@a_minyard / pipe dream

“Yes or no?” Neil asked, looking up at Andrew again with a dopey smile, who was minding his own business eating his french toast.

“...yes,” Andrew said as he swallowed his mouthful, and pushed himself away from the table a bit so that Neil could sit on his lap, a boundary they had been working on for a while and finally overcome. 

Everything was still such a thrill, how close they were, how close Andrew let him be, making him shiver as Andrew’s hands ghosted along the back of his neck.

“This ok?” Neil asked. It’s not that he couldn’t see the way Andrew was looking at his lips or the way his pupils were blown wide, but he had to ask. If by some chance it wasn’t… he would never forgive himself.

“Yes,” Andrew said, and so Neil leaned in and kissed Andrew, sending a familiar, but never wavering flood of excitement and content through him, tasting french toast and much too sweet coffee on Andrew’s tongue.

***

The week until their next match passed in a blur. Tweets, Exy, and shaky breaths.

***

Neil was standing in the hallway after waking up from an afternoon nap, one of the many things he and Andrew liked to indulge in now that they lived together without Kevin and Nicky around every corner. 

He watched, bleary-eyed, as Andrew climbed up onto the counter to reach the highest shelf, unaware of Neil watching him.

“You need help with that?” Neil laughed, walking up to Andrew.

“Go fuck yourself, Josten,” Andrew said without turning around

///@neiljos10 / @a_minyard you are so short  
@k.luves.exy / ok but out of all the witty and intricate insults, this one is my favorite lol #teamjosten

***

“I think we still have a pint of Ben & Jerry’s,” Neil said as they drove back home from practice.

“He says that as though having only one is a good thing,” Andrew said, he was itching for a cigarette, and Neil could sense it. 

Neil reached out his hand towards the center console, his fingers brushing just slightly against Andrew’s, who immediately repositioned his hand to intertwine Neil’s fingers with his own.

@a_minyard / @neiljos10 I still hate you.

***

“Hmm, one of these days I might score on you…” Neil said, almost inaudibly low.

“One of these days I’ll lose my interest,” Andrew said, pulling Neil closer.

“But what would you do without this smart mouth?” Neil teased.

“Not play as much fucking stickball,” Andrew said through gritted teeth, though he would be lying to himself if he said Neil’s laugh didn’t make his heart splutter for a beat. Fucking Neil Josten with his perfect fucking face and perfect fucking laugh…

“326%”

After some grown-up activities, Neil lay in their bed, watching lazily as Andrew pulled on his armbands. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, facing away from Neil, who had an inexplicable urge to run his hands through the hair at the back of Andrew’s head. He sat up, nudging a bit closer to him.

“Still think I’ll lose your interest?” he said.

Andrew turned around to look at him with a calculating stare. “In stickball? Definitely.”

Neil rolled his eyes, plopping back onto the bed.

@a_minyard / maybe someone should remind @neiljos10 that he still hasn’t scored on me. Boring.

@neiljos10 / @a_minyard If I’m so boring, why do you keep tweeting about me? 

***

The morning of their next game, Neil and Andrew walked into the common area to find Jessie, Jeremy, and a man Neil didn’t recognize waiting for them.

“Oh, good! Here they are,” Jessie said.

“What?” Neil asked, clutching his duffel in his hands.

“Oh, this is Ben, head of PR. He needs to talk to the two of you,” Jeremy said, barely containing a laugh.

Ben smiled at them. “Hi, it’s nice to finally meet you,” he said, putting his hand out. Andrew looked right past him at the wall behind him, ignoring the gesture, while Neil gaped at him, still holding onto his bag. 

There was a moment of silence before he realized no one would return the gesture and put his hand back down, clearing his throat.

“Right, well, I’ll just talk to you for a bit and you can join the other’s soon enough, sound good?” he asked.

Jessie and Jeremy smiled and made their way towards the changing rooms.

Neil supposed he looked like he was ready to commit mass homicide by the way Ben looked at him as he beckoned the two of them to sit down.

“OK, I’ll get right down to the point. The media thinks the two of you have some sort of rivalry going on. You seem to be enforcing this idea with comments on your social media accounts and your behavior towards each other.”

Neil saw Andrew raise his eyebrow, looking completely unconcerned.

“And what seems to be the problem?” Neil asked, a wicked grin forming on his face.

“I… Well, this is giving the team some bad press. Showing that our teammates don’t get along-”

“We are being perfectly fucking civil, no?” Andrew said, tilting his head to the side, eyeing the man. He was quiet for some time, before continuing

“Many people have contacted us to get further information-” Ben tried again, but Neil shot him down.

“On what exactly? How do our personal lives correlate to the team?” 

“Well, since you are teammates, it is advisable to represent-” 

“But of course. You think that our ‘situation’ will somehow impact our performance on the court,” Neil said with a dangerous edge to his voice.

“No! I’m just worried about the bad publicity this could cause-”

“Wherever did the phrase ‘all publicity is good publicity’ go?” Andrew said.

“While that is true, people could perceive-” Ben started again.

“Look. Ben. Ben, is it? Right. See, I don't think it really matters how people perceive us. Did you not get our files? If people are going to have a problem with us, I think our social media behavior is the least of your worries. They can perceive this however they want. I’ll make it a bit easier for you since you obviously didn’t bother looking into anything before wasting the time we could have spent doing what we are paid to do. So, look into our files. Addresses, emergency contacts, backgrounds… You might find something interesting there. And as the head of public relations, I know this may be hard to hear, but we wish for our relations to remain personal. We’ll keep our eyes out, see if you understand that. Ok? Now go do your job, we are leaving to do ours,” Neil said, his father’s smile on his face as he got up, Andrew right behind him, sending a two-finger salute over to Ben.

They changed in silence, Neil just looking forward to getting back onto the court after that talk. He had to admit it was nice to change in privacy again, although no one gave him any trouble about his scars. He put his orange bandana on and waited for Andrew, so they could walk out onto the court together.

Practice was pretty standard, though Jessie did make sure they all ran a few extra laps in preparation for the game.

“Jesus, Jessie, let us be, or we won’t have any strength left for the game,” Sam grumbled, earning a reproachful look from them.

“Shut it, Sam, you can all go. Rest up, get some food… We can do this tonight,” they said, earning a few half-hearted cheers before the team dispersed.

“So, did you make Ben cry?” Jeremy asked light-heartedly as he walked past Neil. 

“He gave him a lecture and told him to mind his own business,” Andrew said.

“Wouldn’t expect any less of you. I used to be kind of terrified of you, you know…” Jeremy said.

“Me?” Neil asked, bewildered. 

“Yeah, because you made the Foxes what they are today and always spoke your mind. I was impressed, but also scared because that meant you could do anything if you put your mind to it. ”

“Stop inflating his ego,” Andrew grumbled.

Jeremy waved his hand dismissively, smiling from ear to ear, before jogging to catch up with Jaden and Drake.

“I’m scarier than you,” Neil grinned over at Andrew.

“And more petulant apparently,” Andrew answered.

Neil imitated Jeremy’s dismissive wave. “Do you want to stay here? There are only a few hours left before the game and Annie invited me to stay,” Neil asked.

Andrew raised his eyebrows, “Making friends?”

Neil grimaced “Yeah,” he said sarcastically. “But it might be nice to get to know everyone a bit better, it might improve our teamwork on the court.”

“Of course that’s the reason… whatever, junkie,” Andrew said, walking into the changing room.

When everyone was done changing, a small group of people remained in the common area. A few people were playing some sort of game on the big TV. Andrew strode toward them with an impassive look. 

There was a small huddle of people chatting animatedly in the corner, while Jessie, Layla, and Natasha were sitting on the couch, watching reruns of their opposing team’s, The Eagles’, matches. Neil walked over to them. feeling a bit awkward, but Layla looked up and smiled at him, beckoning him forward.

“Josten! Come look at this! As a backliner myself, I don’t think you will have any problems with getting past their defense,” she beamed, but Natasha sniffed.

“Yes, well, their offense is spectacular, almost Kevin Day standard if you ask me,” Natasha said. “And though our defense is strong, these strikers are outrageously fast.”

“Haven’t we talked about this during practice before?” Layla asked.

Jessie put up a hand as Natasha opened her mouth to respond.

“First half should be fine since Minyard is on. Unless he decides it isn’t worth his time of course,” they said. “But we are going to need a strong defense for the second half because as much as I love Nick and Julia, they aren’t able to shut out the goal like that little asshole.”

Neil snorted, seeing the irritation that Andrew instilled in Jessie by ignoring their every shot during practice, letting the goal light-up red behind him.

“Yeah, but if I go on during the second half instead, I would have to take Sam with me too. Our coordination is too good. Nothing against you Nat, just saying,” Layla said.

Natasha put her hand in the air, laughing. “Oh, I wouldn’t get between you two, don’t worry.”

“Any thoughts, Neil?” Jessie asked, but before he could answer, a collective roar echoed through the room from the people crowded around the television. Unsurprisingly, Andrew had beat everyone and was listening, mild disinterest on his face as Jaden and Annie asked him where he had learned to play like that. 

A smile tugged at Neil’s mouth at the site. 

“So, what’s up with that?” Layla asked, watching him closely.

“What?” Neil turned back to her, confused.

“What did he do?” Layla asked.

“He won the game,” Neil supplied, thoroughly confused.

Layla rolled her eyes. “I mean what did he do to cause this little hate thing you two got goin’ on.”

Natasha looked up from the Jessies’s phone, apparently interested in the sudden change of subject.

“You just assumed Andrew did something?” Neil said, a bit offended. He hated when people jumped to conclusions about Andrew.

“Well… yeah. I mean, he has this… energy? Sort of like…” Natasha spluttered.

“Kicks puppies for fun?” Jessie supplied, not looking up from their phone.

Neil gaped at them, openmouthed, as they waited for a response. He had to remind himself that they meant no harm, They probably thought he would agree with them, seeing as the whole world thought they felt nothing but malice towards each other. He rubbed his forehead, closing his eyes for a second before answering.

“Not to be rude or anything, but that’s actually kind of fucked up. You haven’t put much effort into getting to know him, so I don’t think you have the right to say shit like that about him,” Neil said, shoving his clenched fists into the pockets of his hoodie.

There was an uncomfortable silence before Layla gave him a sort of half-smile. “You’re right, that wasn’t cool, sorry. Ehm, so, what do you think about the lineup?” she asked, desperate to change the subject.

Neil thought about it for a bit. He figured he could probably bribe Andrew if he was going to be a problem, but the real issue was with the backliners. Their strongest defense players went on right from the start and paired with Andrew in goal, they were nearly unbreakable. The trouble, however, was in the second half, with a substantially worse goalie and worse backliners.

“Well, since the better backliners go on during the first half, they will mostly be able to stop the strikers… so… what if Andrew came on during the second half instead of first?”

Jessie looked up at him, contemplating the idea. “That could actually work,” she said, nodding. 

As Neil and Jessie got into a heated discussion about different strategies and plays, Natasha wandered off to the group of people talking in the corner, while Layla stayed, soaking up every word they said, but not contributing much to the conversation. 

Neil found that, except for their prejudices about Andrew, he enjoyed their company. 

After about an hour, Neil stood up, his throat dry from all of the talking. 

“I’m going to get some water, do you need something from the kitchen?” Neil asked.

When Layla and Jessie shook their heads, Neil walked over to the kitchen but paused when he heard his name from inside. 

“-I’m telling you, I think you were right. Josten got, like, weirdly protective of him when Jessie said something about him looking like a puppy kicker,” Neil heard Natasha say. He heard Jaden cackle in response.

“Guys, I think you should stop invading their privacy,” Jeremy responded, sounding a bit nervous.

“Yeah, I still think they’re either just moody assholes, or it’s some big joke. Like, everyone else finds this rivalry entertaining, so maybe they do too?” Jaden said.

“Or maybe-” Sam started, but Neil swung the door open, not saying anything as everybody turned to look at him.

He walked to the sink, filling up a cup of water, before walking right back out.

Andrew caught his eye from where he was playing the game, apparently noticing Neil’s hesitation when entering the room. Neil just gestured towards the group emerging from the kitchen behind him and Andrew rolled his eyes, returning his focus to the videogame.

A few hours later, everyone was tense and waiting for the referees to signal the start of the game.

As Neil got onto the court, he looked back towards the home bench, giving Andrew a two-finger salute before the game started. The Eagles were rough from the very beginning, not hesitating with hard checks and vicious swipes.

Three players were already yellow-carded after twenty minutes. The crowd was going wild, and Neil was thoroughly enjoying dodging the furious backliners. Their last-minute defense strategy was holding back the Eagles’ strikers well, while the opposite team’s defense was crumbling under the pressure of dealing with Neil and Jessie. He found that he was in possession of the ball more often than usual, and Jessie was an amazing teammate to work with. 

He was nearly knocked to the ground by the Eagles’ desperate dealer, but he managed to pass the ball over to Jessie, who sent the ball sailing right past the goalie’s shoulder, making the goal light up red.

They smiled over at him. They were off to a great start. 

And then one of the backliners crashed into Jessie, sending them flying a few feet, hitting the ground with a thud and a pained gasp. The crowd roared in outrage. Neil stood, shocked, like everyone else on the court, before he went running towards the backliner, throwing his racket aside, and punching him in the stomach right between his armor, making him double over, and sprinting towards Jessie. If they were hurt… They were the best striker on their team…

“Hey, Jessie, are you ok?” Neil asked as he got to their side.

They looked up at him, looking a bit confused and winded, but when they bent their back to sit up, they winced. 

“I- agh, I think I’ll have to sub out. Shit, that hurts,” they said as they got to their feet, staggering a bit. Neil caught them under the armpit, walking them to the court doors, putting a hand in the air to signal the referees. Medics swarmed Jessie as soon as they stepped off the court.

Neil was given a yellow card, but he didn’t even care, seeing the backliner limp off of the court, red-carded.

From that point on, the game descended into chaos. Violence spiked and the only person that remained on the court without a yellow card was Jeremy, who got subbed on for Jessie. 

The Eagles were getting more and more irritated as Neil repeatedly sprinted past them, always a few steps ahead. He was pushed to move faster and faster as they swung their rackets his way any time he passed them. He narrowly avoided getting crushed by one of the backliners, but he finally got cornered by a tall woman, who brutally checked him, sending him to the ground.

Neil rolled on his side and used his momentum to get back up again, but the game had stopped, as the woman was getting handed a red card for checking Neil when he wasn't in possession of the ball.

Neil stood, out of breath, watching Ramos walk towards him.

“Josten! You alright?” she asked sternly as she reached him. He nodded, stretching his shoulder a bit from the rough impact.

“You should get off, we’ll send Jaden out instead. You need to rest so that we can put you on at the end of the game if all comes to worst.”

“It’s ok, I’m fine,” Neil said. Ramos narrowed her eyes.

“Minyard said you would say that. He also said you wouldn’t know when to stop and to take you off immediately because you will get yourself killed before you willingly step off the court. Is that correct?”

Neil looked over to the home bench, where Andrew was looking at the two of them intently.

“Fine,” Neil said, a bit more aggressively than was necessary. 

"Alright then!" Ramos said as they walked off the court to the home bench.

Neil sat down next to Andrew, gulping down an entire bottle of water.

"Is the Junkie missing court already?" Andrew asked mockingly. 

“Go fuck yourself,” Neil said lightheartedly.

“Hardly enough time, I go on in 15 minutes, remember?"

Neil raised an eyebrow, “That’s generous.”

Andrew shrugged, not giving any further reaction, knowing it would only extend Neil's foolish awe. Disgusting.

"What inspired you to go talk Exy with coach? You leave me intrigued, Drew," Neil smirked.

Andrew pushed another water bottle into his hands, standing up and leaving while muttering. “What would be the fun in you getting yourself killed because of fucking stickball?”

Neil smiled like the lovesick fool he was, sipping his water as he watched Andrew walking towards Jessie, talking to them about god knows what.

“Wow, you are so gone,” Sam muttered into his ear, sitting down next to him. He had gotten red-carded for smacking a particularly annoying striker in the face with his racket, a move Neil had thoroughly appreciated.

“What?” Neil asked, rounding on him.

Sam cocked his head towards Andrew, rolling his eyes.

“I don’t care, dude, your big secret’s safe with me or whatever. Just one question. Minyard?”

Neil glared at him.

Sam laughed anxiously. “Ok, sorry, don’t kill me. You should check your phone by the way,” Sam said, grinning again.

Neil looked over to his things, bewildered, deciding there was no harm in doing so.

@a_minyard / @neiljos10 I keep telling you speed isn’t a much-appreciated quality. I am enjoying the front row seat to you running yourself into the ground.

Neil looked over to Andrew, who was blatantly ignoring his existence, so he typed out a quick response.

Reactions and retweets came flooding in immediately

///@neiljos10 / @a_minyard I’ll make due, don’t worry  
@PSUfoxesmybabies / lol I love this boy so much- also I’ve got fresh rivalry stuff from tonight’s game. I’m sitting pretty close to the home bench, so here are some pictures of them acting hostile as always. [pictures 1-4]

Neil looked at the pictures, his eyebrows raising as he saw a picture of them from the back, turned towards each other. Andrew had an unimpressed look on his face as always, while Neil was in the middle of saying something, making it look like he was yelling. 

That was only a few minutes ago, and the game was still in play. He didn’t understand how anyone could be interested in this when they had some of the best seats in the entire stadium.

Neil saved the pictures on his phone and without thinking, Neil liked the tweet.

Immediately, there was a reply.

@PSUfoxesmybabies / omgomgomgomg am I dreaming??? did @neiljos10 just like my tweet. If you are seeing this, I love you so much omg

Neil stared at it, not knowing how to respond. 

@neiljos10 / @PSUfoxesmybabies I don’t know. Are you dreaming? You seem to have some of the best seats in the stadium

He figured that would get his point of ‘WATCH THE GAME’ across. He looked up to see Jeremy get his racket knocked out of his hand by the Eagle dealer, wincing in sympathy pain. He watched helplessly as the dealer scooped up the ball, passing it to a striker near, who immediately shot at the goal. The goal lit up read behind Julia, matching their scores 9-9. Neil thought bitterly that Andrew could have saved that shot, but was distracted when the game got back into motion, Natasha hurtling the ball towards Layla who, while looking utterly exhausted from being on the court for a full half, caught it with precision and passed it to Jaden. 

As the Eagles scored another goal a few minutes later, Neil looked down at his phone to see the time, desperate for the second half, when Andrew would be in goal. As he unlocked his phone, he saw a dozen replies.

///@neiljos10 / @PSUfoxesmybabies I don’t know. Are you dreaming? You seem to have some of the best seats in the stadium  
@PSUfoxesmybabies / oh my god, yes, these seats are amazing. Also, you are literally my favorite player of all time and I die every time you score.

///@neiljos10 / @PSUfoxesmybabies I don’t know. Are you dreaming? You seem to have some of the best seats in the stadium  
@exyfanaticsjustforyou / omgggg this is amazing!!!!!!!!!!! Not that you care of course, but I am also here. I have horrible seats but I could still see you on the court, you were fantastic aaaa #teamjosten #gospartans

///@neiljos10 / @PSUfoxesmybabies I don’t know. Are you dreaming? You seem to have some of the best seats in the stadium  
@exyisseksy / notice me senpai XDXD

///@neiljos10 / @PSUfoxesmybabies I don’t know. Are you dreaming? You seem to have some of the best seats in the stadium  
@frenchbaguette / imagine being @PSUfoxesmybabies and having THE @neiljos10 reply to your tweet WHILE actually being at the game. What a life you must be living. Meanwhile us peasants out here having to watch the reruns lol

Neil felt a bit bad for the person. It reminded him of his time on the run when the only things keeping him sane were scoreboards of Exy championships and highlights of games in Exy magazines.

@neiljos10 / @frenchbaguette here are some ‘first-class seat’ pictures [picture 1-2] pay attention to the game everyone 

Neil sent the tweet, attaching a picture of Drake speeding past where he was sitting, an Eagle striker at his heels, and a very unflattering zoom-in on Andrew’s expressionless face, watching the progress of the game with disinterest.

“What are you doing?” Andrew asked, walking up to him, his arms crossed.

“Being a good role model,” Neil said, showing Andrew the screen.

“Great, attract more drama into our lives,” Andrew said.

“You enjoy my drama,” Neil said reflexively, as they have had this conversation many times before.

Andrew stayed quiet, which Neil took as a win. He locked his phone and stuffed it back into his duffel. They stayed there, side by side, until halftime.

The score was 9-12 and Neil was itching to get back onto the court, though he knew he wouldn’t until the end of the game. As horrible as staying on the court for full games was, in his opinion, it was much worse staying on the sidelines, not being able to do anything to turn the game back around.

He was restless as his teammates got onto the court for the start of the second half. He spotted Andrew in the goal, stretching carelessly as the chaos of the game unfolded in front of him. Having nothing better to do, Neil took a picture of Andrew yawning and posted it.

@neiljos10 / @a_minyard better wake up before the ball hitting your face does [picture]

///@neiljos10 / @a_minyard better wake up before the ball hitting your face does [picture]  
@knoxsomesenseintome / lmaoooo Andrew looks dead inside

///@neiljos10 / @a_minyard better wake up before the ball hitting your face does [picture]  
@boydiloveexy / ROFL can’t wait for @a_minyard ‘s response  
@shutupkaren / @boydiloveexy lol same #teamminyard

///@neiljos10 / @a_minyard better wake up before the ball hitting your face does [picture]  
@andrewmine_yard / ugh we are going to have to wait until the end of the game for a response  
@k.luves.exy /@andrewmine_yard ummmm isn’t the game what we all here for  
@andrewmine_yard / @k.luves.exy yeah, but also the drama hehe 

///@neiljos10 / @a_minyard better wake up before the ball hitting your face does [picture]  
@mademykevind_y / oooooh interesting  
@jean_fontaine / @mademykevind_y what is  
@mademykevind_y / @jean_fontaine Neil must've been focusing really hard on Andrew to get that photo ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)  
@jean_fontaine / @mademykevin_day I have no idea what you're saying  
@mademykevin_day / @jean_fontaine [people are gay, steve]  
@andr_ew / @mademykevin_day they literally hate each other to death, Neil deserves better anyway #teamjosten  
@just10yearsofexy / @andr_ew Wow wow slow down they're both incredible  
@andr_ew / @just10yearsofexy says the one who has Josten in their @, traitor  
@just10yearsofexy / @andr_ew lol you literally named yourself Andr-ew, you are a full-on dedicated hate page XDXD (plus it’s just ten, not Josten)  
@mademykevind_y / @andr_ew, @just10yearsofexy ugh go fight on someone else’s thread, I’m just trying to be gay here -_-  
@jostenminyarduwu/ @mademykevind_y straight drama overshadowing the holy gayness of it all, what else is new? #teamIDONTCARE #teamminsten #orisitteamandreil #sendhelp #theyaresodoingitfightme #imgay  
@imnewherepleasebenice / @mademykevind_y hahaha I just started watching Exy and didn’t even know what was going on, so this has been enlightening lol  
@mademykevind_y / @imnewherepleasebenice it is my duty to set alight the wildfires of gay speculations #ithinkitsteamandreil #igrewuponwattpadcanyoutell  
@andr_ew / @just10yearsofexy whatever man, I’m just here to watch the game  
@jostenminyarduwu / @andr_ew who are you again?

///@neiljos10 / @a_minyard better wake up before the ball hitting your face does [picture]  
@exyisseksy / I swear this rivalry is food for my non-existent soul #teamminyard

Neil watched as Andrew deflected yet another shot, looking completely bored, yes, but he hadn’t let a single point get past him yet, and the scores were finally tied after an amazing shot from Jaden from almost halfway across the court.

Neil found himself sitting next to Jessie, yelling insults at the Eagles and commenting on what was going on. After their accident in the first half, the medics forbade them from getting back onto the court. They expressed their opinion on that very thoroughly, using a lot of colorful language. 

When it was finally time for him to get back on the court, subbing out for Jaden, he felt like he could finally breathe again. He managed to score two more points and Jeremy scored once, a minute before the end of the game, bringing the score up to 16-14 in the Spartans’ favor. The Eagles were defeated, but that only seemed to make them more aggressive. 

In the last few seconds of the game, a particularly good striker fired an open shot at goal. Though it wouldn’t change the fact that the Eagles lost, it would at least lower the point gap.

Neil looked over at Andrew as he saw the striker getting ready to take a shot. Andrew’s eyes met his and he threw his arms up, letting Andrew interpret that however he wanted. Andrew looked away, facing the striker and with one easy swoop of his racket, propelling the ball right towards Neil. It stopped at his feet as the final whistle blew, announcing them victorious.

Neil had the urge to run over to Andrew, rip off their helmets, and kiss him senseless right then and there, but as the rest of the team piled onto the court to shake hands with the Eagles, Jessie and Jaden pulled him into a tight hug, distracting him.

When all the necessary procedures were over, the players left the court. The vultures were already waiting for them by the locker rooms, but there was someone else waiting for them.

“Hope you two midgets aren’t giving Diana too much grief,” Wymack said. “I thought you two would have shredded each other apart by now.”

Neil grinned, glad to see him once more, while Andrew just asked, “Why so?”

“Prolonged exposure. But nevermind. Outside of my pay grade, remember?”

“All too well. What are you doing here?” Neil asked.

Wymack raised his eyebrows. “Well hello to you too. In case you haven’t noticed, the Class I season hasn’t started yet, so I figured I could waste a day to go see my ‘star pupils’ or whatever. Also-” Wymack said.

But before Wymack could finish, the vultures swarmed them, taking picture after picture of the three of them together. Drake, Natasha, and Jessie got pushed towards them as well.

The reporters screamed names over each other, before Jessie finally called order, pointing to an excitable young woman in the front.

“Mr. Minyard! Would you care to comment on your rivalry with Mr. Josten?” she asked right away.

Andrew stared at her, a few cameras clicking as they waited for his response. After a while it was apparent they wouldn’t be getting one, so Jessie turned to another reporter.

“Mr. Josten! Your old coach David Wymack said ‘He thought you two would have shredded each other apart by now’. Does that mean that hostile feelings date back to your days at Palmetto State University?”

“What’s your name?” Neil asked. The reporter smiled.

“Derek White.”

“Well, Derek. Did no one ever tell you that it is rude to listen in on private conversations? Tell me, Derek. Did your mother love you? I’m not exactly sure mine did, but at least she made sure I knew how to be a decent enough person. I’m certain everyone here knows all too much about our personal lives. Any EXY RELATED questions?” Neil said, making the reporter shrink back from him. Wymack was standing a bit to the side, rubbing his forehead, exasperated, as Drake tried his hardest not to burst out laughing.

The next few questions were decent enough, asking their opinions on the upcoming season or commenting on certain plays. 

They got a few more rivalry questions, which Neil answered either by telling them irritatingly vague half-truths or by staring them down until they changed their question. Andrew ignored any personal questions sent his way.

When the interview was finally cut off by Jessie, they changed quickly, meeting Wymack outside by their car. When they arrived, however, Wymack was standing at the side as Kevin Day glared at them from across the parking lot.

“This should be fun,” Andrew said, walking up to Kevin.

“What the hell do you two think you are doing???” Kevin asked as soon as they stood in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kevin!!!!  
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated. Thanks for reading! <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is.. interesting XDXD  
> Kevin is bi BECAUSE I SAID SO, and it's just extremely chaotic, so yeah.  
> It's kinda short, but I hope you like it! <3  
> Also, go read SkarpetkaMroku's comment, it's better than this whole fic combined, I can't-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me to my friend: I can't believe I'm actually posting this mess of a chapter  
> My friend: It's beautiful that way UwU

“What the hell do you two think you are doing???” Kevin asked as soon as they stood in front of him.

"Going home," Andrew answered, eyeing the taller man with disdain, signaling him to move away from their car.

Kevin breathed in heavily and turned to Neil.

“Why are you actively trying to ruin what you have worked so hard for?” Kevin asked, looking either like a toddler or a mother, Andrew couldn’t decide.

Neil furrowed his eyebrows in mock confusion. “I was under the impression that we won the game…?”

Kevin almost growled. He had to stay quiet for a few moments to compose himself. Wymack was just standing to the side, looking slightly amused.

“You know that’s not what I mean. This can only end badly. I’m just trying to look out for you,” Kevin said indignantly.

“Guess we’ll wait and see,” Neil shrugged. Kevin looked like he wanted to strangle them.

“Maintaining a good image is essential to your careers! I thought I wouldn’t have to remind you, of all people,” Kevin said, looking around cautiously before hissing. “Do you think the Moriyamas will be pleased with you if you get yourself kicked off the team because of your behavior?” 

Andrew took a step closer, making Kevin shrink back. He had gradually gotten more and more into Neil’s face the longer he spoke.

There was a moment of silence as Andrew stared Kevin down, tilting his head to the side.  
Kevin’s bravery seeped faster than he could chug vodka.

“Do you think I would let him do anything that would put him in danger, Kevin? Or do you doubt me that much,” Andrew asked.

Kevin was silent, glaring at the two of them. 

“Now do you want to tell me why you are really here because I doubt it’s something that doesn’t concern you. Your attention and interest are unfortunately limited to only yourself and Exy.”

“Why have you been ignoring me?” Kevin spat out viciously.

“Ahh, there it is,” Andrew said, stepping back, and looking at Neil. He could handle it from here. 

“Were we, I hadn’t noticed?” Neil said, looking to Andrew innocently, who just looked back, unfazed. “So, now that you are here, what is it that we have denied you the privilege to share with us?”

“Other than the fact that this rivalry thing you two are doing, ruining your careers and basically exposing your relationship to anyone who looks closely enough, in a world where contact sports are one of the most homophobic entertainment communities…” Kevin said with emphasis before the fight and tension in his body was exhaled with a sigh.

“Thea and I are getting married,” Kevin said.

Andrew could vividly imagine how this interaction would go down if the rest of the Foxes were there. Nicky would probably start screaming and jabbering wedding plans, Allison would try to get the juicy gossip, Renee would smile her serene smile and congratulate him, Matt would pat Kevin on the back and call him something like ‘man’ or ‘bro’, Aaron would say a quick congratulations before ignoring the situation and Dan would cry of happiness.

However, Kevin was talking to him and Neil, so instead, there was silence. 

Neil looked at Kevin, then at Wymack, and then back at Kevin, who was just watching them with silent resignation.

“So?” Kevin asked.

“So what?” Neil asked

Kevin looked at him as if he had an extra head, turning to look at Wymack who had a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Well, aren’t you going to say something?” Kevin demanded.

“Congratulations,” Andrew said in a monotone. He honestly couldn’t care less if Kevin decided to spend the rest of his life Muldani or an Exy racket. As long as he was safe and willing, Andrew didn’t think it necessarily concerned him. 

He certainly knew that if he and Neil ever decided to do something like this, they wouldn’t tell anyone.

“Um, yeah, congrats. When did this happen?” Neil asked.

“Almost two months ago,” Wymack answered. “You shits have had him hounding me to contact you for way too long, you know.”

“Aw, coach, will you make us run laps?” Andrew asked.

“You shut your damn mouth, Minyard,” Wymack said, pointing at him with a silent threat that would never amount to anything.

Andrew waved him off. “Is that it?” Andrew asked Kevin, who was still staring at them like a child with its candy taken away.

“Is that… I… You know what? I should have expected this. Whatever. One of you is going to be my best man, I don’t care who, so decide.” Kevin said, thoroughly exasperated.

“So, you came to see us play. Are you getting sentimental on us?” Neil asked them.

Kevin turned around and walked towards Wymack’s car a few parking spots away muttering something that sounded a lot like “I hate this fucking family.” 

***

The next day, they woke up to a media uproar. On the front cover of multiple gossip magazines a picture of Neil, Andrew, Kevin, and Wymack, with titles such as “Day-Muldani wedding”, “The Best Man scandal”, “Minyard-Josten rivalry confirmed?”, or Andrew’s personal favorite “Day’s dilemma, power striker VS infamous goalie” 

Kevin, predictably, had a meltdown from things not going his way, calling every single PR person he knew, and deciding with Thea, that it was time to go public.

@k_day_queenofexy / I am extremely happy to announce that @official_theamuldani and I are engaged. Our relationship has been one of the only constants in my life and we wouldn’t be here today without her.

@official_theamuldani / @k_day_queenofexy The easiest yes in my life.

Unfortunately for the pair, a video was released shortly after, causing havoc.

///@k_day_queenofexy / I am extremely happy to announce that @official_theamuldani and I are engaged. Our relationship has been one of the only constants in my life and we wouldn’t be here today without her.  
@k.luves.exy/ aaaaa this is amazing, I’m so happy for them  
@mademykevind_y /@k.luves.exy it’s fake, watch the video

@a.m.i.n.y.a.r.d / I swear everyone is stupid. Just because Kevin mentioned homophobia doesn’t mean the marriage isn’t real. He could have been referring to something Neil or Andrew said before. Also, bisexuality exists.

///@official_theamuldani / @k_day_queenofexy The easiest yes in my life.  
@tdt.laamot / Wait, so that video from the parking lot means this is fake??? What the hell??? Yall have to go watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdnkfndos I don’t know what to think  
@ultimatefrogsupremacy/ @tdt.laamot I can’t hear most of what they are saying:((((  
@tdt.laamot / @ultimatefrogsupremacy no one can, it’s so frustrating >:C  
@mnyrdfrvr / @ultimatefrogsupremacy lol I can only hear Kevin. He sounds pissed, to be honest, I can’t- idk like, this would make so much more sense if we heard what Neil said before to instigate this type of behavior. We all know that he never acts like this, he’s always really composed in interviews. It has to be something big…

@allthingsexy / ok, so for those of you who don’t know what the hell everyone is freaking out about, yesterday, after the match, a short video was released by a burner account featuring the exy players Kevin Day, Andrew Minyard, Neil Josten, and coach of the Palmetto state Foxes and Kevin Day’s father, David Wymack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdnkfndos  
If you’ve watched the video, you know that it looks as though Kevin and Andrew are in a fight that resolved fairly quickly. Andrew says something inaudible, to which Kevin replies with “Why have you been ignoring me?”, clearly directed at Andrew, but Neil Josten is the one to reply, followed by a tension between the two rivals.  
Now, here comes the interesting part. Kevin seems completely unfazed by their behavior, talking a bit before saying “-homophobic entertainment communities,” followed by “Thea and I are getting married.” and then the video ends. So yeah, this is a mess.

Andrew was staring at Kevin, who was sitting on their couch, Sir curled in his lap, sipping a cup of tea Neil had made for him.

“Kevin, we can tell everyone. We just didn’t want people prying into our personal life,” 

“No, no, no way, not happening,” Kevin spluttered. “I put in too much work into you to throw away your career like that.”

Andrew gave Kevin an unimpressed look. The idiot had decided to have empathy right when they needed it least.

“Great, now I have two martyrs to deal with, both struggling to be the first one to jump in front of a train for the other,” Andrew said.

“Seriously Kevin, how do you expect to get out of this mess?” Wymack asked, joining them with a cup of sinfully black and bitter coffee.

“I… I could say I’m bisexual. I mean, I am marrying a woman, so people wouldn’t care so much, right? And if they say anything about it affecting my game, I think my statistics are counterpoint enough,” Kevin said.

“You aren’t going to lie to the press,” Neil scowled as if he hadn’t spent half of his life lying about everything. Meanwhile, Andrew was too busy thinking about how best to deflate Kevin's ego.

“I wouldn’t be lying,” Kevin said.

As Andrew thought back to all of Kevin’s speeches about it being ‘easier to remain heterosexual’, he figured he probably should have seen this coming.

“Oh,” Neil said stupidly.

When no one had anything else to say, Kevin took out his phone, typing out a tweet. 

@k_day_queenofexy / I am addressing the rumors about the credibility of our wedding and my sexuality, among other things. I am proud to say that I identify as bisexual and am in a committed, loving relationship with a woman. My closest friends, @a_minyard and @neiljos10 have helped me come to terms with my sexuality and the rumors regarding any hostility between us are false. Above all, we are here to play Exy, and I will continue to do my best on the court and hopefully lead the Tigers to victory this year.

@kevin_makesmy_day / lol we should have known @k_day_queenofexy was a raging bisexual when he dubbed himself ‘the queen of Exy’... excuse me, what a legend.  
@jostenminyarduwu / I was so not expecting that, but looking back I probably should have…

@littlemissexyfan / ok but can we PLEASE appreciate @k_day_queenofexy coming out as bisexual in (as he said himself) a homophobic entertainment community. I hope he is happy and I hope people don’t give him any shit for this, he is still the best Exy player in history.  
@letsgotigers / I’ll continue rooting for the Tigers and supporting Kevin Day, but I don’t understand why he felt the need to tell everyone about this, he is marrying a woman and it just seems like he wants attention  
@just10yearsofexy / @letsgotigers ok, so. 1) he didn’t just announce he was bi out of nowhere, he was addressing rumors that he was gay and his engagement with Thea Muldani was fake. 2) even if he did say he was bi out of nowhere, it isn’t attention-seeking. It’s showing people around the world, who are being, shamed, ridiculed, assaulted, and even killed for their sexuality, that they are not the problem, that they are not alone, and that they can lead a happy, successful life, just the way they are, and that they don’t have to hide. 3) just because he is marrying a woman doesn’t make him any less bi.  
@letsgotigers / @just10yearsofexy whatever, I just don’t need to hear about this shit  
@just10yearsofexy / @letsgotigers Wow. Just… wow. -_-

@justinfromnashh / I’m telling you, there are faggots everywhere, guess who’s burning their signed Kevin Day T-shirt  
@andrewmine_yard / @justinfromnashh I can take that T-shirt off your hands, you ungrateful, homophobic asshole :)  
@justinfromnashh / @andrewmine_yard I’m not scared of gays, have fun burning in hell, dyke  
@andrewmine_yard / @justinfromnashh I’m a guy lol, also, you care way more about who guys kiss than any straight man does XD (call me when you figure it out, sweetie UwU). Oh, and also:  
homophobia  
/ˌhɒməˈfəʊbɪə,ˌhəʊməˈfəʊbɪə/  
noun  
dislike of or prejudice against gay people.

@exyisseksy / I AM DEAD fnrigiuerbguiergbiurebguire my idol, my love, @k_day_queenofexy coming out as bisexual? And his athlete friends are supportive of him???? Omg my heart- ngmfnmger  
@PSUfoxesmybabies / IKR, @neiljos10, and @a_minyard putting their differences aside to support @k_day_queenofexy is so amazing #friendshipgoals

Kevin tossed his phone away as retweets and mentions came pouring in. He turned to Neil, who had sat down next to him.

“Ok. But now you stop with the rivalry,” Kevin said.

Neil opened and closed his mouth as they both realized Kevin was going to use this favor against them.

“I can’t guarantee that the internet will stop though,” Neil said. 

Kevin scowled at him, “We should have left you at Millport,” Kevin said.

Neil nodded with a smirk. “You really should have.”

“We all know Josten is a fucking nuisance, but now that all of this is figured out, shouldn’t you pick who will be best man?” Wymack asked.

“It should be Andrew,” Neil said automatically. Andrew raised an eyebrow at him.

“Well, it makes sense. The best man is the person you trust the most,” Neil said.

Andrew studied the look on Neil’s face and realized his goal. The media loved portraying Kevin and Neil as a power duo, a sort of ‘Riko & Kevin 2.0’. Making Andrew the best man would cause a lot of speculation. Fucking instigator.

“Fine. but you’re giving a speech,” Andrew said. 

“Kevin, you couldn’t have picked anyone else?” Wymack asked, bemused, obviously readying himself for the shit Neil’s speech will undoubtedly stir up.

Kevin put a hand to his forehead, sighing deeply before going on a rant about Neil’s plays during yesterday’s game and subtly suggesting that Neil was getting slower. Andrew zoned out, not interested in the conversation.

“Andrew, the scouts for the national team have been talking to me about your possible progress, they said you are the top candidate for the backup goalie for the Olympics Games next summer,” Kevin said. 

Neil turned to look at him so quickly, Andrew thought his neck would break. 

“Andrew?” he said, starstruck. He was looking at him in a way that made Andrew feel.

“No,” Andrew said standing up and walking to the kitchen.

“I said you are a package deal,” Kevin called after him, making Neil let out a slightly concerning gasping noise. Andrew turned to see Kevin looking at him with hopeful eyes and Neil as though he might faint. 

“They won’t contact you unless I give them an ok first, so you should think about it,” Kevin said.

“How many more bombs do you plan on throwing at them this weekend?” Wymack asked incredulously as Neil opened and closed his mouth like a fish.

Kevin glared at Andrew, “They were ignoring me for two whole months! What the hell was I supposed to do???” Kevin demanded.

Andrew just shrugged and walked to the kitchen for some ice cream. He knew from the moment he saw Neil’s reaction that it was a yes, but he didn’t plan on telling Kevin that any time soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Andreil are going to the Olympics babyyyyy XDXD


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this is where things with the rivalry and... everything... get complicated.  
> I swear I am not evil, I am sorry, this hurt to write. At least, you finally know why I decided to include Neil's little freakout in the first chapter.  
> Also, I wanted to thank all of you for the love and support, like seriously your comments made my day aaaaa. Feel free to yell at me because of this chapter, I won't blame you haha, I promise I will return to the "crack/fluff" vibe soon XDXD  
> TW: injury and people being rude assholes and jumping to conclusions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (My beautiful beautiful friend who puts up with way too much of my bullshit was there for most of the writing process and pushed me in the right direction when I had no idea what the hell I was doing, and we had a few... interesting conversations:)  
> Me before starting this chapter: Idk how to start this, what do I write?  
> My friend: ok, so, let's establish, what month is it in the fic?  
> Me: IDK MAN, it's in a timeless void, probably... Do you really think I'm that organized???  
> LATER  
> Me: so now that we have established that they are in a timeless void... also known as April...  
> My friend: XDXD GO MAKE PEOPLE CRY  
> Me: including myself :)

Kevin and Wymack left the next day, Kevin’s mental state significantly worse than when he had come.

Andrew had spent the last hours of their stay solemnly ignoring Kevin once more, knowing he would be facing an interrogation about his plans and Neil’s career.

Neil didn’t push Andrew for an answer, but he saw the way Neil looked at him, as though Andrew had hung the moon. He wanted to kiss the stupid expression off of his stupid face every time.

When they came to practice on Monday, the team was ecstatic, asking them questions about the legendary Kevin Day. Needless to say, Andrew felt particularly volatile that day.

With their two consecutive wins and an amazing lineup, the Spartans were pegged to be one of the top candidates for the year’s semifinals. 

Training harder than they ever had before, pushing each other’s, and their own limits, Andrew found himself regularly blocking shots, and not ignoring Jessie anymore. 

Andrew knew Neil noticed, but he averted his eyes every time Andrew caught him staring, afraid he would spook him into not caring again. However, Neil showed his appreciation in other ways.

The week went by fairly quickly, with no antagonizing posts from either Neil or Andrew, though their rivalry tag remained third trending on Twitter. People were either convinced they were playing nice for Kevin’s sake, or that they still hated each other, but were forbidden to be public about it.

Andrew woke up on Saturday as Neil went for his morning run. He went downstairs to see that Neil had already fed the cats, though that didn’t stop them from meowing at him as though they hadn’t had any food in the last century. 

Andrew had prepared breakfast for the two of them by the time Neil came back, cursing him for his routines and causing Andrew to wake up at an eight on a weekend.

Neil drank his black coffee like the heathen he was, making Andrew want to gag, before looking up at him with a small smile.

"So, how many goals do you plan on letting through tonight?" Neil asked casually, looking at Andrew innocently over his cup of coffee.

Andrew gave him a deadpan look. “Bribery is frowned upon."

“I don’t see you complaining,” Neil said back, petting Sir as he jumped up on his lap, sniffing at the eggs Andrew made him.

“Put that heathen down, Josten,” Andrew said, watching as King circled at the legs of Neil’s chair, trying to find a way to jump up onto him as well.

Neil rolled his eyes, plopping Sir back down on the ground. The cat growled indignantly, hissing at Andrew as if knowing he was behind it. 

Andrew just stared Sir down as the cat contemplated jumping up on Andrew’s lap instead. Apparently, it knew better, joining King at circling Neil’s chair.

As Neil cut off a piece of his egg, he looked down at the cats, who looked back at him, meowing, with wide eyes. Neil sighed, reaching with his other hand to pull the piece of the egg off of his fork and give it to the cats.

“This is exactly why they think they can get away with anything,” Andrew said, watching King as he aggressively caught the piece of the egg out of the air and scurried off to go eat it out of sight.

Neil pretended like he didn’t hear Andrew, petting Sir as he devoured his part of Neil’s breakfast.

***

The team met up at the stadium four hours before the match, their buses loaded with their gear. The interior was set up differently from their old, in Andrew’s opinion, much superior team bus, having one large seat on either side of the aisle, but not quite large enough to lay down. Neil sat down across the aisle from him, curling himself into a ball and leaning against the window, looking at Andrew with tired eyes.

Andrew handed him one of his wireless earphones without a word, putting on Neil’s playlist for them and taking out his book to read as Neil looked out of the window. They spent the ride in relative silence, Andrew reading aloud ridiculous parts of the book he was reading and Neil requesting his favorite songs.

When they got off the bus, fans and reporters were waiting for them, but the team walked right past them into the visiting team’s spaces. It was an hour before the start of the match and everyone seemed confident in their chances that day. Though they were playing against the Atlanta Coyotes, one of the best teams in the Southeastern district, they had improved a lot and trained specifically to counter the Coyotes’ playing style.

Ramos decided that their defense strategy from the last match had proven to be more effective, so Andrew would be playing the second half again.

Jeremy, as optimistic as always, was complimenting the team's remarkable progress and everyone's abilities. Jessie and a few of the other players were in a heated discussion about different strategies the Coyotes might use. Unsurprisingly, Neil was among them, gesturing for Andrew to join the conversation, when their eyes met.

“Hey, Drew, what do you think about their goalie sub? Like, I know my standards are pretty high, but I don’t know why they would even let that guy hold an Exy racket, it’s disrespectful to the sport,” he said, a few people laugh uncomfortably at his brutal honesty.

“You can’t disrespect something so meaningless,” Andrew deadpanned, making Neil open his mouth to retort, but Jessie, trying to diffuse any tension between their teammates before an important match, started talking over him.

Neil gave Andrew a half-hearted glare before rejoining the conversation. 

A while later, they changed into court gear and filed towards the home bench. The stadium was already filled with people, the rumble of their footsteps and their chatter filling the space with noise.

Everyone around him was tense as they were called onto the court for warm-ups. Andrew ran a few laps before mindlessly swinging his racket around, making a few of the opposite team’s players scowl at him. It was well known to everyone in the Exy world that Andrew did not care, causing a few vicious, yet surprisingly uncreative insults to be thrown at him each game.

Neil was stretching at half court with Jessie, looking over at Andrew with unease. Andrew knew that their performance this season would be important if they wanted to get signed to the court, so despite his better judgment, he agreed to go warm up with Jeremy, deflecting his every shot.

Everyone was shocked, stopping what they were doing to stare, the Coyotes giving him wary glances.

They were called off the court once more. Jeremy was bouncing on the balls of his feet in anticipation. Ramos was standing by the plexiglass wall taking them all in.

“Alright people, our chances are good, but don’t let that get into your head. The Coyotes are an excellent team, and you will not beat them slacking off. I’m looking at you, Samuel. If you get fucking red-carded again, I am signing you to another team, capiche?” 

Sam laughed, giving her an award-winning smile. “You’ve got it, coach,” he said.

“Oh shut up,” Natasha grumbled, pulling him towards the court doors.

“Right, so, starting lineup, get ready, do your best, try not to get yourselves carded,” Ramos summed up.

Andrew walked towards the bench, watching the teams file onto the court as the players’ names were called. 

The deafening cheers of the crowd announced the arrival of the Coyotes before the commentator could. Their captain met Jessie at halfcourt to shake hands with them. And so the game began.

The Coyotes were fierce, they lacked speed though, the fatal weakness that could decide the fate of the game, especially when playing against Neil Josten. 

Andrew watched him make his way up the court swiftly, dodging players and passing the ball on his tenth steps.

The ball made a perfect arc in the air towards Jessie, who caught it flawlessly. They stumbled a bit as a Coyote backliners crashed into them, but they regained their footing quickly. Andrew was quickly losing interest in the game as Jessie hurtled the ball back towards Sam since Neil was blocked by his mark. Samran forward, passing the ball to Neil, but his mark snatched it out of the air.

The game continued without anything out of the ordinary happening. The Coyotes were more about precision than brutal strength. There wasn’t a very high chance of anything bad happening, but he forced himself to watch the game, as boring as it was. The rest of the team was cheering next to him as he watched in silence, narrowing his eyes in concentration from time to time.

After an endless amount of time, in which both Jessie and Sam scored once, Neil ran towards the goal, no one in his way. He swung his racket with as much force as possible, and Andrew knew the goal was going to light up red. 

What he didn’t expect was for Neil to stumble as he watched whether the goalie would deflect his shot or not. 

The goal lit up red and the crowd erupted in screams and boos. Neil kept gaping at the goalie, who jerked their head violently in irritation and turned away. Neil kept staring at them for a minute, before making his way back to his starting spot, shooting an indecipherable look towards Andrew.

Andrew thought back to the goalie. Melanie Taylor. He thought back to when Ramos had told the team her statistics, trying to figure out what made Neil react like that. 

He looked back towards the auburn-haired striker. He was shaking himself off, clasping and unclasping his hands on his Exy racket, a nervous habit.

Andrew narrowed his eyes, standing up to watch as the game started. The Coyote dealer shot the ball down the court, snatched from the air by their best striker, but Andrew’s eyes were on Neil. He was sloppy, getting blocked by his mark far more often than he normally would, but he was persistent, running himself ragged. He kept shooting glances over at the goalie. Andrew stepped forward, as close to the plexiglass as he could to look at Melanie. She looked fairly unthreatening. She had cat-like eyes and strands of her short brown hair were falling into her face. She had a slender build. 

Andrew glanced back at Neil. He was in possession of the ball, but a few moments later, a backliner clashed his racket into Neil’s, sending both it and the ball flying to the ground. Neil quickly picked his racket back up, but the ball was in possession of the Coyote dealer. 

As Andrew took in his expression, he saw something he didn’t see that often anymore. An urge to run. 

Neil sprinted after the dealer, and the game continued. Neil got tossed around way too much for Andrew’s liking, and when a backliner crashed into him at full speed, sending Neil sprawling, Andrew had had enough.

“Get Neil off the court, now,” Andrew demanded as he positioned himself to stand right in front of Ramos. She looked over his shoulder as the backliner was being given a yellow card.

“That wasn’t a harsh hit. We said we’d keep him on for another ten minutes,” she said.

Andrew clenched his fists. It was obvious to anyone who had ever played with Neil before that something was not right.

“It wasn’t a question, get him off the fucking court,” Andrew said, barely containing his anger.

Ramos narrowed her eyes at him. “Do not talk to me like that, Minyard. Josten knows full well how important these next months are for the two of you. He would not jeopardize his health for a few extra minutes on the court.”

Andrew wanted to punch something, these people didn’t know Neil at all. He saw her gaze soften before adding.

“If it makes you feel better, I can let Carolin check on him when he comes off?” she asked. Andrew took a deep breath, counting to 10 as Bee had always instructed him for when he felt like he would snap.

“No,” he said, before turning back and standing near the plexiglass once more. The next ten minutes were painful to watch as Neil stumbled and lost possession of the ball. He heard some of their teammates muttering, and shot them looks that shut them up fairly quickly.

When Neil was finally subbed out for Jeremy, he walked right towards the end of the bench. None of their teammates bothered him. He took off his helmet and took a large gulp of water. Andrew walked over to him, standing in front of him with his arms crossed. Neil wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“Look at me,” Andrew said and watched as Neil’s eyes met his own, a wild look in his blue eyes.

“I…” Neil started saying before looking away again. 

“Who is she?” Andrew said, knowing Neil would understand what Andrew was referring to.

Neil gulped, taking a shaky breath, “Lola,” he said plainly.

“Lola is dead. That woman in the goal is Melanie,” Andrew said, but Neil just huffed.

“Don’t you think I fucking know that, Andrew?” Neil said, his voice breaking as he said Andrew’s name. He cleared his throat before continuing, but his breathing was already labored and shaky. “Don’t you think I know? I saw them shoot her in the fucking head, and it was one of the best moments of my life, ok? I know. That doesn’t mean I can’t feel her breathing down my neck, can’t see her doing this,” he said, gesturing to his face.

Andrew merely looked at Neil, knowing he would have to let it out before Andrew could do anything.

“God, what the fuck is wrong with me…” Neil whispered more to himself than Andrew. “I survived, promising to make a life of my own, living with you and going to the Olympics because they weren’t in control of me anymore, but somehow they are still getting to me from beyond the grave, you know?” Neil said with a dry laugh.

Andrew thought back to all the times he had to push Neil away, all the nights when sleeping next to him was too much. He remembered their first time, how scared he was to hurt Neil, to be like them. How sometimes, bile unintentionally climbed to the back of his throat at the thought of being seen by someone.

“Yes,” Andrew said, startling Neil a bit out of his panic, making him nod in understanding.

Andrew sits down next to Neil, just an inch apart, not initiating any contact. Slowly, he felt Neil’s shoulders relax and his posture grow slack. He heard Neil mumble a quick “Yes or no?” to which Andrew answered “yes” and Neil pressed his thigh against Andrew’s, inching his hand towards Andrew’s, until he was clasping it tightly

It had been weird, the first time they held hands. It was unintentional, but somehow calming and reassuring all the same. From then on, they did it from time to time, when other things were too much. To show that they were still there, together. Fondness and caring like this was never a top priority for Andrew’s foster brothers and fathers, making this something just his and Neil’s. 

Andrew knew that Neil was somewhat back from the ledge when he started being restless and fidgety, watching Jeremy score a goal and listening to the crowd erupt with noise.

They sat there until halftime, their fingers still intertwined when their teammates stumbled off of the court. They were tied 7-7 and the anticipation was almost palpable. 

“Alright everyone, this has been a pretty rough half, but most of you are going on there for the first time, so use that extra energy. Minyard… just… focus on blocking the goal,” she said, giving him a few seconds to respond, but continuing when he didn’t.

“Josten, you feeling good to go on for the start of the second half?” Ramos asked, giving him a wary look.

Neil's answer was instantaneous. “I’m fine, I can go on for the second half,” Neil said. Ramos nodded in acknowledgment, moving her attention to the backliners.

“No,” Andrew said, looking at Neil with ferocity.

Neil gave him a withering look. “I’m f- I can play Andrew, I don’t need you to tell me what to do,” he said viciously. Their teammates tried desperately to look anywhere other than them but were not succeeding. 

Andrew clenched his jaw. “You know that you shouldn’t be going onto that court, so stop being a fucking idiot and sit this out,” Andrew spat.

Neil stared him down, but Andrew wasn’t known for backing out of anything. If Neil got another panic attack, which was likely after just coming down from one…

“Ok, settle down,” Ramos ordered. “Neil, do you really feel up to this?” Ramos asked.

“Yes,” Neil said with an air of finality before stomping off towards the benches to drink some water. When everyone was getting ready for the game to begin, and the second half starting lineup assembled at the court doors, Andrew walked to the side, feeling Neil following him.

He turned to look at Neil, his eyes narrowed. 

“I’ll be ok, ‘Drew,” Neil said, much softer than when they had spoken before.

“I’ll 1000% kill you, Junkie,” Andrew said, fisting Neil’s shirt in his ungloved hand, about to mutter a “yes or no” and pull him down into a kiss, when he realized where they were, and felt a thousand people watching his back at that moment, he pushed himself away from Neil, wiping his mouth with his hand and walking back to where the rest of the team was gathered.

As the commentators started announcing their names, they got onto the court. Andrew got in position in front of the goal.

The game started off quick and unforgiving, but as the first shot was hurtled his way, he sent it flying to the other side of the court, making it impossible for anyone to catch, other than Neil, who sprinted towards it and scooped it up right before it hit the floor, taking his ten steps and passing the ball to Jaden.

In a matter of minutes, Neil scored a goal and they made their way back to their starting places. As the Spartans accumulated more and more points with Neil’s senses back, the Coyotes were left behind as Andrew viciously shot back anything that dared go his way. 

The Coyotes were getting more and more desperate as the point gap grew larger. As Neil scored yet another goal dangerously close to the current goalie’s head, they called for a time. The team and their coach huddled up, as the Spartans stopped to catch their breath. 

Neil shot Andrew a winning smile, before turning to Jaden and clacking their sticks together, laughing at something he had said. 

Andrew focused his attention on the Coyotes once more and watched as the goalie walked off of the court with a referee, replaced, once again by Melanie. It was as if he could feel Neil stiffen from halfcourt. He wanted to pause the game and get him subbed out, but the whistle blew and everyone went to their places. The game started up once more, and Neil’s every movement was deliberate as if he was proving to himself that he could do this. Andrew never realized how much he appreciated the effortless way Neil’s body moved until he saw him running like this. As if every step was a mile.

Jaden scored another point and there was a long while when the ball didn’t go near either of the goals as the Coyote backliners started turning vicious with brutal checks and scuffles for the ball.

A Coyote striker somehow got possession of the ball and as the rest of the players tried to keep in close proximity, Neil ran as far as possible, anticipating Andrew’s pass. 

Andrew watched the striker take her ten steps before firing the shot to the top left corner. Andrew was moving before she had even fired and slammed into the ball with as much force as possible, the ball flying over the heads of the other players, right towards Neil. 

Neil didn’t hesitate, propelling the ball with some of Andrew’s left-over force towards the goal. The wall lit up red, making the score 7-12 for the Spartans.

Her Coyote teammates ran towards Melanie. 

“What the fuck, I thought he was nothing for you during the first half!” Andrew heard one of the backliners yell at the goalie.

“He was all fucked up, first half! Not my fault he’s like literally Day-junior!” Melanie screamed back, tossing her hand up into the air. 

Neil’s head spun towards the goalie and Andrew saw red. What were the chances that Melanie would use one of Neil’s trigger words, right after he had had a panic attack?

Andrew remembered the first time anyone had called him junior after Baltimore. What seemed like an innocent comment from Allison made Neil turn as white as chalk, getting a hazy look in his eyes, before he sprinted to the bathroom, puking his guts out. Andrew had threatened everyone to stay out of the dorm for the night, Nicky and Kevin sleeping at Wymack’s place while Andrew stayed awake the entire night, making sure Neil wouldn’t run.

The same look was in his eyes at that moment, and he didn’t respond when the referee blew his whistle. After a few seconds, Jaden cautiously walked up to him, murmuring something. Neil nodded, brushing him off as Jaden put a hand on his shoulder. Andrew wanted to break his arm for touching Neil when he was in that state of mind, but all he could do was watch as Neil determinedly got back into position.

The Coyote dealer passed the ball to a striker, who was blocked by Drake. Stealing the ball from him, he shot it at Neil, who was standing unguarded a little way down the court.

He looked shocked as he saw the ball fly at him, barely catching it in his racket without taking a single step, he was still in the same place, as if rooted to the spot, looking around.

It happened so quickly, everyone in the stadium stared in shock.

A large backliner, sprinting towards Neil at top speed rammed into him. Instinctively, Neil hugged the racket with the ball to his chest as he always did. Andrew watched, helpless as the backliner crashed into him, the force sending Neil flying a few feet. The racket, hugged to his chest, got pushed up during impact, knocking him in the bottom of his jaw, sending his helmet flying off. He hit the ground with a thud, his head unprotected.

Andrew felt numb as he watched Neil’s limp body. He stood there in shock for a few moments, not registering the terrified screams of the crowd. He vaguely registered Jessie and Carolin bursting through the court doors, Jessie's face a mask of tears and fear. Medics rushed onto the court. The ringing in Andrew’s ears subsided, and he sprinted towards Neil. He was a few feet away when an arm yanked him back.

“Stop, stop, you need to let the medics do their thing,” he heard Jaden’s voice behind him. Andrew wrenched his arm out of his grip, shivers running down his spine.

“DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ME,” Andrew yelled, turning back to face Neil. He was being put on a stretcher, Jessie by his side. Andrew felt like he was back in Baltimore, struggling to get to Neil in the other room. 

He started towards him again but now two people were restraining him. Their hands were gripping him, pulling him close, not letting him move, a spike of an old rage and anguish was building in his gut. 

“Andrew, stop. STOP, he’ll be fine, it’s just me and Drake!” Jaden said.

Andrew lashed out, squirming out of their grip and punching Drake in the face, breathing heavily, losing track of where he was as he saw his muscular body crumple to the ground. 

But as Drake spun around to look at him in shock, Andrew stared. It wasn’t Drake. It was a Drake, but not his monster. 

No one was willing to touch him after that. He looked around wildly for Neil. He was being carried off the court. Andrew was about to go after him, when suddenly a referee was in his face, shouting something about violence and unacceptable behavior, waving a red card in front of his face. Andrew accepted it without any further comment, and dodged the referee as well as his teammates, making his way to the exit, thrusting aside anyone who kept him from getting out.

He stumbled through the court doors, fists clenched and gaze searching for Neil. That's when he saw him, limp, his auburn hair matted with blood. He was taken through the emergency exit and was being hastily taken into an ambulance. 

Guards blocked the way as reporters swarmed to get a good shot. Andrew regretted ever giving his knives over to Robin as he sprinted through the lockers, common room, and hall out onto the parking lot. 

The doors of the ambulance were being shut and the ambulance started wailing as it sped out of the parking lot. 

No.

No.

Andrew felt a spike of something he hadn’t felt in a long time. A strange mix of desperation, anger, and betrayal, filling his mind with unwelcome memories.

He startled a bit as he noticed he had been standing still for an indeterminable amount of time. He looked around the parking lot, spotting Jessie standing where the ambulance had been. They hugged themself with their hands and looked around at Andrew with tears in their eyes as he approached them.

“Where?” Andrew asked. Jessie gave him a pained look, shaking their head.

“I-I don’t know, they said something about surgery and… Carolin is in the ambulance with him…” Jessie said in a small voice.

Andrew’s pulse spiked and he felt an all-consuming rage. Carolin, who had made Neil uncomfortable. Carolin. Andrew knew that it was their own fault that no one thought of Andrew when Neil got injured, but that didn’t make him feel any better about the situation. 

He wanted to punch something. Jessie took a cautious step away from him.

“Andrew, it’ll be alright, he… I know I don’t know much about him, but I know he’s been through a lot, he’s so strong, he’ll get through this,” Jessie said, making eye contact with him. 

Most people couldn’t stand it for long, looking away almost immediately or giving up after he hadn’t responded for some time, but Jessie’s eyes stayed on his, searching.

Andrew quirked his head to the side before turning around and heading back into the stadium. Jessie followed him without a word.

As they went out onto the inner court, the game was in progress once more, but the crowd was still screaming and a few people were sobbing in the stands. Reporters were standing behind a line, shouting at them as they spotted Jessie and Andrew.

“Minyard! Minyard! WILLIAMS! ANDREW!!! JESSIE! WILLIAMS!” the reporters shouted until their voices formed a single screaming mass.

“We will not be answering any questions right now!” Jessie yelled at them, their voice shaking, but their rage evident in their voice. The reporters quieted down, but one in the front took advantage of it and before anyone could stop him, the reporter yelled his question.

“Mr.Minyard, do you think threatening your teammate Neil Josten before the start of the second half might have lowered his awareness, causing the accident?” 

The crowd of reporters stood deadly silent, waiting for an answer, a few cameras clicking. 

Jessie turned to look at him with an expression of confusion.

Andrew stared the man down, making him shift uncomfortably. He played, in perfect recall, what had happened between him and Neil before the second half. Had he been threatening Neil? Had he lashed out at him, without even realizing it?

Before he could answer, Jessie was talking.

“We do not threaten our teammates on this team. If you weren’t paying attention to the game and are only here to get the next scrape of juicy gossip, I’ll go over what happened. Neil scored six goals this game, and while catching a ball, he made a wrong move, causing backliner Marcus Richards to crash into him. I believe you know the rest. Good day,” they said, scowling at him before walking off, pulling Andrew along by his sleeve.

As soon as they were at the home bench, Andrew yanked himself from their grip. Jessie didn’t protest, sitting down on the bench and putting their face in their hands. 

Andrew didn’t waste a second, walking over to Ramos, who was watching the game with a tense set to her shoulders. It was obvious that everyone was shaken up over what had just happened.

“I need to know what hospital Neil went to,” Andrew demanded, trying to keep the emotions inside. It was strange. For how rarely they made an appearance, when his emotions did breach his wall of apathy, they came crashing down on him, until he felt like he was drowning.

Ramos flickered her gaze towards him. “I’m afraid I cannot disclose that information. Though Carolin should contact me any minute now.”

There were ten minutes left in the game, but Andrew couldn’t wait that long. He stared Ramos down until she looked at him again.

“Look, Minyard, we’re all stressed, but there’s nothing I can do about that right now,” she said. 

“I specifically remember telling you not to put Neil back onto the court again. Did I not? It might not have occurred to you that there might be a reason behind that, but now that you are better informed on what happens when you don’t listen, I would advise you to do something,” Andrew said.

Ramos looked at him, clenching her jaw, before nodding. She turned to go call Carolin. He could hear her shaking voice over the line.

"Minyard would like to know the whereabouts of the hospital," Ramos said. 

Carolin said something on the other line and Ramos rubbed her forehead, sighing in defeat, 

"I know, I know. I’ll call them and he can sort it out with them, I won't disclose anything,” Ramos said. 

There was a pause, and Andrew could see Ramos's face pale.

"Surgery? Christ. Go home, Carolin, you need rest as well. This has been stressful for everyone. She hummed in acknowledgment to something Carolin said before saying a quick goodbye and turning to Andrew.

“Here,” she said, taking out her keys and tossing them to him. “The small grey one is a universal key for the lockers. Gather his things and meet me in my office,” she said, walking off. 

Andrew gathered Neil’s things from the bench, not answering his teammates’ questions. The reporters stayed silent as he walked past them, quickly changing out of his gear, taking the rest of Neil’s things from his locker, and running into Ramos’s office.

When he came in, she was searching frantically through files, cursing under her breath, not even acknowledging his presence. Andrew didn’t question it as he saw her take out Neil’s file and ruffle through it.

“Ok, so, I have to call his emergency contact. I can’t tell you where they took him, but you can talk to this person, figure it out,” she said as she punched a number into the telephone on her desk. 

Andrew raised his eyebrows at her as she dialed the number and waited for it to connect. His phone started ringing in his pocket.

“Oh look, someone is calling,” he said in a sing-song voice. Before she could connect the dots, he answered his phone.

“Stop wasting my time,” Andrew said into the phone as he picked it up. Ramos looked up at him, her eyes wide. She looked back down at the file and back up at him. Her mouth formed a tiny ‘oh’ and she put the phone back into the receiver.

“Providence Health, they took him to the emergency unit… I-” she said, but Andrew didn’t care what she had to say, he had gotten what he had wanted and he was out of the office before she could say another word, tossing her keys onto a small armchair in the corner.

The drive to the hospital felt like hours. It seemed that every light was red and every street was filled with traffic. It wasn’t helping Andrew’s temper.

When he finally parked in the hospital’s parking lot, he slammed the car door shut and ran to the entrance of the emergency unit. When he got inside, the waiting room was halfway filled with people. A father was sitting to the side, crying silently as his two daughters sobbed next to him, an older woman was sitting a few seats away from them, sad and calm. Some people were pacing around, and some were sitting in shock. Andrew walked past them to the nurse at the reception. 

She looked up at him with a kind smile and a tired look in her eyes. “Hello, may I help you?” 

“I’m here for Neil Josten, he was admitted about fifteen minutes ago with a head injury,” Andrew said. The nurse raised her eyebrows at him.

“And what is your relation to the patient?” the nurse asked, typing something out on her computer.

Andrew stared at her. When she was done on the computer and he hadn’t answered yet, she turned to look at him with an expectant look. 

“We live together,” Andrew said. The nurse cringed.

“I’m sorry, I am only allowed to divulge any information about a patient’s state to their family or spouse,” she said, resignedly, as if she had repeated those words too many times for one lifetime. The rage he had felt before returned, but he didn’t know what to say, it wasn’t like he could fight hospital protocol.

“Look, I get it, I’ve had friends in the hospital, and it’s hard when you don’t know what’s going on, but-” the nurse started to say.

“He’s not my fucking ‘friend’,” Andrew spat out before turning on his heel and sitting down as far away from any other people in the room as he could. With shaking hands, he pulled out Neil’s phone, unlocking it with his thumb and going to the contacts. He closed his eyes as he thought about what he was about to do next. 

After a few moments of hesitation, he dialed the only family Neil had. Stuart. The phone rang for a few moments, and then a minute, before going to voicemail.

“Fuck!” Andrew yelled, slamming the phone down next to him. A few people looked around at him in shock, but he couldn’t care less.

After a few minutes, he heard a small crack. He had been squeezing the phone so tightly that a thin crack had appeared on the display. He stared down at the phone. It lit up with notification after notification from the former Foxes and a variety of their acquaintances. He knew his own phone must have been doing the same thing, but he left it untouched in his bag, instead, opening Neil’s phone once more.

The “Old Foxes” group chat was flooded with messages, and he decided that they had the right to know. 

Allison: Andrew fucking answer us   
Renee: Andrew we know that Neil is your priority, but whenever you have some time, tell us how he is doing, we are worried. I send my prayers  
Matt: fnwejkgnroengoer  
Matt: vnewobnuerongeor  
Matt: Please, I just need to know what happened to my best friend  
Kevin: Stop texting the same things over and over, it isn’t going to make Andrew reply any sooner  
Dan: excuse us that we care srsly

Andrew started typing out a message.

Nicky: HOLY SHIT, NEIL IS TYPING. R U OK???????  
Allison: Omg Neil, I thought you were dead, Jesus fucking christ, don’t do this to us  
Dan: I think it might be Andrew from Neil’s phone  
Matt: TYPE FASTER ANDREW  
Matt: or if it’s Neil, take your time fnjivneri  
Neil: Neil has been taken to the emergency and is going into surgery. I can’t find out anything, since I am neither family nor spouse. I can’t tell you what is going on, or how he is doing. Andrew.

Andrew stared at the screen, reading his words over and over. Seeing them written out made everything worse as the reality of it hit him. He wouldn’t know a thing about Neil’s condition until he woke up, which could take hours, or days, according to what type of surgery he was having. But Andrew didn’t know that either. The only thing he did know was, that he didn’t plan on leaving.

Nicky: WHAT THE FUCK YOU ARE LIKE LITERALLY BOTH  
Dan: wait so u don’t know anything???  
Matt: NONONONONONO  
Allison: You have got to be fucking kidding me.  
Allison: What about people who don’t have a family, and aren’t married yet? Who the fuck came up with this?  
Renee: It’s standard hospital protocol to prevent strangers from receiving sensitive information. Unfortunately, that sometimes leaves a few people behind.  
Matt: That’s fucked up

Andrew exited the group chat. He was well aware of how shitty the situation was, he didn’t need the Foxes to tell him. He noticed Kevin had texted Neil in their private chat before and opened the message.

Kevin: When you are better, call me.  
Kevin: What will happen to you if you aren’t able to play after the injury?   
Kevin: Ichirou won't like this  
Kevin: Andrew check social media, you should see this before anyone shows you.

Andrew exited the messaging app and opened Twitter. Their rivalry tag had gone to number two on trending.

@ifUnoluvexy_inoluvU / are we not going to talk about @a_minyard abusing @neil_josten? Like, I know they have both been through a lot, but Andrew was literally convicted of brutally beating up four men, like, he has talent, but if this is how he is acting, should he really be allowed to play? #minyardjostenrivalry #teamjosten

@exyisseksy / Wow, I thought this rivalry was just lighthearted antagonism, but apparently not? #minyardjostenrivalry

@neiljo_stann / Ok BUT LITERALLY WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THE FACT THAT THIS MIGHT BE ABOUT KEVIN AND THEM FIGURING OUT WHO IS GOING TO BE BEST MAN

@knoxsomesenseintoyou / While it’s obvious that @a_minyard was threatening @neiljos10, I don’t think it’s what led to the accident. Like, threatening people is never ok, but Neil was fine up until like halfway through the second half. And are you forgetting that he was already playing really weird in the first half? Idk… I wouldn’t jump to conclusions.   
(also here are the clips of them, if you haven’t seen it yet) [video 1,2]

Andrew clicked on the first video, watching himself, zoomed in from somewhere in the stands. The video was pretty grainy, but it was obvious it was the two of them. They stopped a bit away from the rest of the team. He watched himself step closer and grab Neil’s shirt before pushing him away and walking back.

Without the conversation, he realized how it must have looked. He swallowed, turning on the second video, this time, taken by a professional camera, with their voices audible. “I’ll be ok, ‘Drew,” he heard Neil say, his face wasn’t visible, but Andrew could perfectly see the way his features had softened with those words. His heart clenched at the thought. And now, Neil was in the fucking hospital. He should have done better, he should have made Neil stay off the court. “I’ll 1000% kill you, Junkie,” Andrew said in response and he watched himself fisting Neil’s shirt in his hand, standing there for a few seconds before pushing them apart. He walked back to the team, Neil behind him, but he cast an anxious glance around them, to see if anyone was watching. The video ended.

Andrew watched it again, stopping the video to look at Neil after he had pushed him away. He looked like a deer in the headlights. Andrew had always known he could trust Neil, even back when he hadn’t been willing to admit it to himself. And he had always thought Neil would tell him if something made him uncomfortable. 

A thought crossed his mind, that he tried desperately to shake away. It was useless to dwell on it before he could talk to Neil, but it clung to him. Was he abusing Neil?

Trying to distract himself from the thought as his heart started beating wildly in his chest, he scrolled through some of the tweets. 

There were outraged posts, demanding he be suspended from the team, often featuring clips of him and Neil, him being restrained by Jaden and Drake, and pictures of Drake on the floor.

There were thought-through posts, summarizing what had happened. Some focusing on the accident, and some on Andrew’s problems, digging up things from his past. Some were theorizing on how Kevin would react to this and if he knew how bad their relationship was.

Many also featured a set of pictures of them sitting next to each other all during the first half, theorizing that they had merely had an argument and it had nothing to do with the accident, also pointing out that Neil calling Andrew ‘Drew’ hinted at a closer relationship between the two of them.

And in Andrew’s opinion, the worst pointed out Neil’s sloppy moves that day and questioned whether he would be able to play after this.

He put the phone away. He sat there for some while, shivering slightly every time someone entered the waiting room. After a while, he gave in, opening Neil’s duffel bad and putting on his slightly large Foxes sweater. Though he was now on a professional team, the Junkie still insisted on carrying his old hoodie everywhere. The number 10 and his name on the back were faded and peeling with time. It still smelled like him, and Andrew didn’t bother convincing himself that he wasn’t a bit comforted by it.

He watched people pass by him, the nurses coming out to inform them about the patients as he sat there, the nurses giving him pitying looks from time to time, but they soon stopped as he shot murderous glares back.

He sensed his phone buzzing in his bag. He blatantly ignored it. He was itching for a cigarette worse than he had for months. 

A few minutes later, the phone buzzed again. He let it ring, but when it started up the third time right after it had stopped, he snatched his bag up, taking his phone out. 

“Aaron,” he stated as he picked the phone up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *screams*   
> ok, so I will fix this I SWEAR  
> Also... imagine Andrew in the hospital, hissing at anyone who comes too close because we all know that he is not-so-secretly a feral cat.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More of Andrew doubting himself! Why? Because of growth, I guess?  
> Also, I have a headcanon that Andrew is amazing with children so this was a bit self-indulgent.  
> We shall wake our sleeping beauty next chapter, don't worry everyone <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I didn't forget about this fanfic, I even have the next chapter planned out, I was just hella lazy and watched anime, I have no excuse.  
> Please forgive me.  
> Also, look at the end notes for a crack summary/plan of the next chapter I found idek where it came from wtf, includes spoilers ofc  
> Comments and kudos always make my day vbibfjosvfid! <3<3

“Andrew,” he heard his twin’s voice over the phone’s speaker. He waited for him to say something, but Aaron stayed silent. Andrew sighed, pulling the phone away from his ear to end the call when Aaron spoke up.

“You picked up,” he said.

Andrew didn’t dignify the pointless remark with a response but didn’t hang up either.

The silence stretched and a few seconds later, Andrew had had enough.

"What do you want?" he spat.

"Katelyn works at Providence Health," he finally said.

“And how does the cheerleader working here affect me?” Andrew said back in a monotone.

He heard Aaron take a steadying breath. “Because,” he said viciously, “Katelyn, ‘the cheerleader’, is the only way you could possibly get information about that fucking idiot, so show some respect for once.”

Andrew gritted his teeth. 

“So?” Aaron continued when Andrew didn’t answer. “She is the one that suggested it, despite what you made her go through, I have no problem in telling her to stay away.”

“Bee would be very proud of our progress. Tell me, Aaron, are you scared I am going to hurt her?” Andrew said.

“Go fuck yourself,” Aaron grit out, but didn’t hang up. Maybe this really was progress.

There was another long pause before Aaron sighed. “Look, Andrew, I don’t care, I just- I was watching the game, and if that happened to Katelyn… well,” Aaron paused before he could cross a line. 

“Caring doesn’t suit you," Andrew said.

Aaron cleared his throat, “Whatever, have fun sitting in the hospital,” Aaron said.

“Fine,” Andrew gritted out before Aaron could hang up and he could practically feel the relief in Aaron’s voice as he mumbled acknowledgment and something about calling Katelyn before hanging up. It made Andrew want to strangle him.

Andrew sat in place, the phone in his hands. He would know what was going on with Neil. He looked up, scanning the room for the cheerleader. His eyes locked with a little boy about six years old. The boy looked as though he had been caught, gasping a bit and turning to a woman that was presumably his mother. A moment later, the woman looked up at him as well, an apologetic smile on her face as the boy slowly made his way towards Andrew.

“Hi, um, my name is Tyler. Are you Andrew Minyard?” he asked, mispronouncing his last name. Andrew let his harsh gaze soften as he bent down to look at Tyler.

“Yeah, that’s me,” Andrew said.

Tyler’s face broke out into a huge grin. “Woah, my daddy says I have to cheer for the Spartans because they are our team, so I watch all of your games! I really love Exy!”

“I don’t, but the person I’m waiting for does. You could talk to him about Exy for hours,” Andrew said. From the corner of his eye, he saw Tyler’s mother standing up and walking towards them cautiously. 

Andrew realized his face was still blank, probably unsettling the mother, but when she reached them and saw her son’s grin, she relaxed.

“Hello, my son is one of your biggest fans. He started playing goalkeeper in the little league just because of you,” the mother said. Andrew didn’t really know how he felt, knowing he was somehow a role model to an oblivious child.

“Mom!” Tyler said in protest, blushing and pouting that his secret had been revealed, but he bounced back quickly. “I couldn’t see your black sleeves, so I didn’t know if it was really you,” the boy said. “Is it true you have a twin?” he rambled on, his eyes widening in awe.

“Yeah, but he’s not as cool as me,” Andrew said. “That’s why I get to wear the sleeves,” he said, pulling up Neil’s sweater to show Tyler his black armbands.

“They are so cool…” Tyler said, reaching out to touch the material, but his mother placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Behave yourself, Tyler,” the mother chided. “Sorry, he keeps begging us to get him armbands, or else he’s never going to be as good a goalkeeper as you,” the mother laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. 

Andrew leaned forward in his seat, as though he was about to tell Tyler a secret. 

“If you want to be an Exy player, you have to practice. Some people I know practice day and night. You can’t let anyone ever tell you that you aren’t worth it, as long as you are on your side, no one can stop you. And get a bandana, I hear it helps keep your hair out of your face,” Andrew said.

Tyler's mouth was open. He looked to his mom, and back to Andrew, a huge grin spreading across his face. 

“I will! Daddy is going to be so angry he ate that peanut!” Tyler said.

“My husband has a nut allergy,” the mother laughed, not bothering to point out that if her husband wasn’t in the hospital, Tyler wouldn’t have met Andrew either.

Andrew listened with casual disinterest to Tyler go on about Exy, nodding from time to time, answering a few questions. He exchanged a few words with the mother, Amelia, before she was called by one of the nurses. As she walked to the reception, Andrew turned to Tyler, once more catching him gaping at him. 

Andrew contemplated for a moment, before opening his bag and fishing out a spare pair of armbands. He handed them to Tyler without a word, watching as the boy unfolded them, his eyes widening as he realized what they were. 

“Tyler! Come on! We have to go see daddy!” Amelia said, giving Andrew another smile.

Tyler grinned, giving Andrew a fierce but very awkward hug, mumbling a thank you, and running to his mother

He heard him babbling excitedly, brandishing the armbands in front of Amelia’s face. 

Andrew watched them leave, his eyes scanning the room once they were out of sight, spotting a familiar redhead cheerleader on the other side of the reception. She had a stunned look on her face, accompanied by a small smile, both vanishing immediately as they made eye contact. 

Andrew stood up, slinging his bad and Neil’s duffel over his shoulder and walking towards her. He stopped right in front of her, raising an eyebrow.

“Um, I didn’t want to intrude,” she squeaked, her eyes darting to where Amelia and Tyler had gone.

When he didn’t respond, she gulped and continued. “I, uh, I heard about Neil being here from some of the nurses who recognized him, and I knew he would want to see you and, well... I wanted to help,” she said, barely taking a breath as the words tumbled out of her.

Andrew thought back to when he had told Katelyn that she would never be a part of his life. Yet here she was, offering him help, wanting nothing in exchange. He didn't want her help, and he certainly didn't want to be indebted to her of all people. 

As he stood before her, he weighed his options. He hadn’t accepted a favor on credit from anyone other than Neil in a long time, and they had stopped keeping track during Neil’s sophomore year. He wasn’t planning on starting with Katelyn but on the other hand, he had no idea what was happening to Neil, and he couldn’t get information from anyone other than Katelyn.

Katelyn looked around them nervously, wrapping her arms around herself protectively. “This isn’t exactly allowed, but I can look into the system to see what’s going on with him. It would be better if you stayed here, though,” she said. Andrew didn’t respond, merely looking back at her.

“All right, um, I’ll be back,” she said nervously before quickly walking back down the corridor, glancing back at him a few times as he watched her leave. 

When she rounded a corner, he went to sit back down. He had an urge to light a cigarette. He rummaged through his bag so that he had something to do with his hands as he chewed on the inside of his mouth.

Andrew’s fingers caught hold of his phone. He clenched his jaw, knowing what he would find if he unlocked his phone, but for the first time since Baltimore, he felt unsure, replaying with impeccable memory every time he called Neil an idiot, every time he heightened the percentage.

He knew Neil would tell him if anything bothered him and wouldn’t think to hold back anything to spare Andrew’s feelings, but did he just not realize he wasn’t ok with it because of the way he was raised? Thinking it was nothing compared to what he was put through in the past? 

Andrew opened his phone, ignoring the overflooded Foxes group chat and going to google, searching Neil’s name. He waited for the articles to load, clicking on the first one immediately. It was published only an hour ago, yet it already had many hits and shares.

~Neil Josten’s injury and the Minyard-Josten rivalry, from behind the scenes~

Andrew stared at the caption. He felt like throwing something, so he took a deep breath and started reading. His eyes moved faster than his brain could normally process, but he somehow managed to retain all the information. A few quotes swirled in his mind as he stared at the links to numerous different articles about themselves at the end of the page.

~...arrested for assault…~

~...Andrew Minyard’s violent tendencies made many speculate whether there might be physical abuse involved within the well-known Minyard-Josten rivalry. These speculations seem to have been confirmed by the star goalie lashing out on his fellow teammate Drake Smith...~

~...his actions to protect his teammate Neil Josoten resulting in the suicide of Riko Moriyama…~

~... Neil Josten has not responded to these accusations…~

Andrew opened Twitter, his mind gone numb. 

@foxessockes / wow, I’ve been a huge fan of the Foxes ever since @neiljos10 joined the team but seriously, idk how to feel about @a_minyard right now  
/// @exyisseksy / @foxessockes sameee, I hope when Neil is better, he can clear all this up...

@exyfan_atic / cancel @a_minyard  
/// @kevindaynnight / wait what is going on, why is everyone canceling Andrew???  
/// @exyfan_atic / @kevindaynnight just google it, it’s not that hard  
/// @kevindaynnight / -_-

@jeremyxjean / I feel like it still doesn’t make sense like we are missing something. Like, sure people love to antagonize @a_minyard because of his past, but to jump to all these conclusions… people can heal and change, I thought that was the whole point of the Foxes in the first place. Also, why would @k_day_queenofexy make them fight for the spot of best man if they weren’t on good terms, or better yet, why would they have joined the same team???

@andr_ew / I hated @a_minyard from the start, like he barely even cares about the game anyway, who let this psycho on the court???

@randomguy84352 / this is just so dumb, why can’t we all just focus on the game???

@ameliaamundsen / what are y'all talking about? I just met @a_minyard at the hospital with my son and he was so sweet to us. He is definitely not abusive, since I am pretty sure he was waiting for @neiljos10 and was very kind to my son. #stopthisrivalrynonsense #minyardisanangel   
@andr_ew / @ameliaamundsen rip your child  
@hereforthetea / @ameliaamundsen like maybe he’s decent enough, but I still wouldn’t let him anywhere near my kids  
@jean_fontaine / I call bullshit  
@livindalife / this is clearly fake, and even if it was real, I’d be even more concerned about Andrew just waiting for Neil to get out #protectneiljosten  
@ifUnoluvexy_inoluvU / if this is true, I don’t think they are rivals  
@andr_ew / @ifUnoluvexy_inoluvU no shit, Andrew is just a fucking stalker  
@andrewmine_yard / @andr_ew like I’m not happy about what’s going on, but I seriously think we should wait for @neiljos10’s statement before saying Andrew is a stalker…

Andrew never cared what the public thought of him, and he knew he never would. The accusations against him didn’t bother him in the slightest as long as he and Neil both knew the truth. However, he was starting to doubt whether Neil had just grown accustomed to Andrew’s abusive behavior.

It didn’t help that the idiot classified everything up to getting tortured ‘fine’.

Andrew contemplated his options. If Neil wasn’t content in any way, he wouldn’t hesitate to remove himself from his life. The thought of never seeing the idiot again made an uncomfortable weight settle on his stomach. He hated this. He hated that he couldn’t talk to Neil. He hated that he was doubting himself, something he vowed he would never do since his abusers tried to make him believe he had deserved it. He hated that he knew he didn’t want to lose Neil. He hated that Neil had this big of an effect on him. He hated that despite everything, he was going to wait in this stupid hospital until Neil woke up. Because he knew Neil would wake up. After everything, Neil was too stubborn to go like this, because of one harsh blow.

He waited, staring at the corridor Katelyn had walked down until he saw her approaching. She looked nervous but determined as she walked up to him, sitting down a couple of seats away. 

“He’s having jaw surgery. He has a minor mandibular fracture. They uh… basically have to stabilize the bone so that there aren't any complications in the healing process,” Katelyn said hurriedly.

Andrew stared at her. Neil was having a standard procedure. As if reading his mind, Katelyn continued.

“He had a mild traumatic brain injury or concussion, but there wasn’t any major damage, so he’ll probably just be a little confused and disoriented for a week or so…” 

There was a pause. Andrew swallowed. 

“He’ll be coming out of surgery soon, so he should be up within an hour and a half. I… I don’t know if you’ll be able to see him, but I can… I can try to figure something out,” Katelyn said getting up without another word, starting to walk away. With a sour taste on his tongue, remembering Aaron’s words ‘show some respect for once’, he opened his mouth.

“Cheerleader,” Andrew said, looking at Katelyn with a stony expression. She turned around, bewildered. “I appreciate it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS FOR NEXT CHAPTER! I might change it up a bit but this is what I've got planned for now:  
> 1) Neil goes wakey wakey  
> 2) wHo wOn ThE gAmE  
> 3) screaaaaaaaaaaaaaaams for Andrew  
> 4) Andrew comes in like the midget in shining armor he is  
> 5) Neil is like woah my boi hot  
> 6) anyway Andrew is like u dumbass but then stops himself cause abuse or smth  
> 7) Neil is like why tf are you not calling me an idiot junkie rn CALL ME IDIOT JUNKIE CAUSE I HAVE A DEPRECATION KINK LMAO  
> 8) "i'M FiNe"  
> 9) Andrew be like: "I'm fine is ur definition of being slaughtered by Riko, so I'm not gonna trust that"  
> 10) and then they have a cute moment because I'm not evil  
> 11) crack treated seriously, cause that's apparently my style now  
> 12) Andrew doesn't leave Neil's bedside and more cuteness  
> 13) pictures of Neil and Andrew leaving the hospital together  
> 14) fandom once again goes wild  
> 15) SHIPPERS  
> 16) EVERYONE IS LIKE WTF  
> 14) Neil calls bullshit on abuse shenanigans


End file.
